Professionals

In ongoing this series, we interview experts about your key questions about adoption.

Are you an expert wanting to lend your knowledge to our families? Email us at editor@bcadoption.com.

Here are some of the articles from our long-running Diary of an Adoptive Mom series. This adoptive mother shares her experiences and secret thoughts of raising three children. This series ran from 2006 to 2010.

Note: Diary entries #1 to #7 are unavailable 

In Canada, biological parents are entitled to a longer parental leave than adoptive parents, kin caregivers, and customary caregivers. But research shows adopted children need more time to attach. Time to Attach is a research and advocacy campaign lobbying for 15 more weeks of attachment leave for families formed through adoption, kinship, or customary care arrangements. In this article, two researchers explain the basis for the campaign and how we can bring about change together.

For children who have experienced trauma, learning can be a big struggle. Here’s how to help them.

With grief, sadness is obvious. With trauma, the symptoms can go largely unrecognized because it shows up looking like other problems: frustration, acting out, or difficulty concentrating, following directions or working in a group. Often students are misdiagnosed with anxiety, behavior disorders or attention disorders, rather than understanding the trauma that’s driving those symptoms and reactions.

The Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD)’s new online adoption portal, Adopt BC Kids, has been up and running for over a year now. We reached out to our community to find out what the process is like for prospective parents. In this article, a prospective adoptive mother shares her experience with the new system.

One evening in April

I’m not sure exactly when my husband and I decided to start our family through adoption. We both always wanted a blended family of biological and adopted children. This past spring just felt like the right time.

Every adoptive family needs health providers who understand the unique circumstances and health implications of their child’s beginnings. This pull-out guide was produced for an American audience, but the information applies well to Canada too. Cut it out or copy it to share with your healthcare team!

Four long-time staff members—Karen Madeiros, Dianna Mortensen, Anne Melcombe, and Jen Hillman—reflect on their years at AFABC.

In this series Marion Crook, author and adoptive mom, takes us on a journey through changes in adoption in BC. Part one explores local infant adoption, part two will look at international adoption, and part three will focus on adoption from foster care.

The Indigenous Perspectives Society (IPS), formerly Caring for First Nations Children Society, is a registered charitable non-profit founded in 1994. IPS has played a significant role in the delivery of training and policy development in the Indigenous child welfare field. We interviewed IPS staff about their recent move into providing support and training to caregivers of Indigenous children who are in foster care.

Adoption and assisted reproduction have a lot in common!