Personal stories

When I was a baby, strangers assumed that my mother was my nanny or babysitter. When walking down the street, there was a high chance that people passing by would assume that I was both born and raised in China. In fact, just last week, a customer at work asked me how long I had been in Canada because my accent was so good. As an intercountry adoptee from China, I came to Canada and became a Canadian citizen when I was 11 months old. I didn’t consider myself Chinese for a long time, and I wasn’t interested in exploring that aspect of my heritage until very recently.

Joel and Gigi Yuen have one biological daughter, and two children they adopted from China: a daughter, G, whom they adopted as a baby, and a son, T, whom they adopted when he was four. Read more about their family, how they keep connected to their children's birth country, and more! We also hear from G and T about what being adopted means to them. Enjoy!

We are so happy to announce that the Nanji family are the grand prize draw winners of our 2020 Faces of Family contest! Congratulations to the Nanjis! They have won a DJI Tello Iron Man Edition Drone, generously donated by our sponsor, Broadway Camera. Visit them today for all your camera and video needs!

We are so happy to announce that the Domonkos family are the first-place winners of our 2020 Faces of Family contest! Congratulations to the Domonkos’! They have won a Ricoh Theta V 360° camera, generously donated by our sponsor Broadway Camera. Visit them today for all your camera and video needs!

Read more about the Domonkos family and how they grew their family through adoption.

We are so happy to announce that the Lafortune family is the second-place winner of our 2020 Faces of Family contest! Congratulations to the Lafortunes! They have won a Fujifilm Instax Square SQ10 camera, generously donated by our sponsor, Broadway Camera. Visit them today for all your camera and video needs!

Read more about the Lafortune family and how they adopted sibling boys through the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). 

Mother’s and Father’s Day can be difficult celebrations for adoptive families to navigate. In this article Kira, a 21-year-old who was born in China and adopted by a Canadian family, shares how her family celebrates, and how they acknowledge the importance of her birth family.

The Borkowski family consists of Amanda, her husband, and their eight children, ranging from ages 9 to 29. With the help of the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, they were able to create a life with their kids sharing beautiful memories. We spoke to Amanda about her advice on adoption and her adoption journey.

Can you briefly describe your family?

We are a large adoptive family, combining his, hers, and ours. We have four sons and four daughters, ranging in age from 9 to 29.

Heather always knew she would adopt. She grew up in a busy household with seven other siblings, five of them adopted. At 26 she took the plunge to adopt as a single and has never looked back. Now, with two adopted sons with Down Syndrome, Heather lives a full life. Here, we get a glimpse into her life, and she shares her experience with the adoption process, as well as some words of wisdom. 

We've added 40 books to our adoption library! Check them out here, and stop by our head office in Burnaby to borrow one. For more information on our lending library visits our main library page.     

Here are some great new books from the world of adoption!

1) The A-Z of Therapeutic Parenting: Strategies and Solutions

by Sarah Naish