ONTARIO TO OPEN RECORDS

I don't like the contact veto or the disclosure veto in any of this.

Ontario To Open Adoption Records

    McGuinty Government Helps Adoptees, Birth Parents Unseal Personal
   Information

   TORONTO, May 14 /CNW/ -

   NEWS

   A new Ontario law will soon give adult adoptees and birth parents access
to information that is currently sealed in their adoption records.
   For years, adoptees and birth parents have worked to get personal and
family information from their original birth certificates and adoption
records. Ontario's new law will help adoptees find out what their original
names were, as well as who their birth parents were. It could also help birth
parents learn the name their child was given after he or she was adopted.
   The law includes a new disclosure veto
(http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/community/questions/adoption/a
bout_adopt_disclose_sys.htm) for adoptions that take place before September 1,
2008, and maintains no contact notices
(http://www.gov.on.ca/ont/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_252/_s.7_0_A/7
_0_252/_l/en?docid=STEL02_160608) for all adoptions registered in Ontario.
   Adoptees and birth parents can begin to apply for disclosure vetoes in
September 2008. Adoptees and birth parents will be able to apply for
information from their adoption records starting in June 2009.

   QUOTES

   "For many, the bond between parent and child continues far beyond the
adoption process. So does the need to know your identity," said Minister of
Community and Social Services Madeleine Meilleur. "Now our adoption laws
finally recognize that reality."
   "This act will have a profound impact on thousands of people who have
been longing for years, often decades, to know their roots or the names of
their children," said Wendy Rowney from the Coalition for Open Adoption
Records. "Finally, as adults, we can make private, responsible decisions
regarding contact."

   QUICK FACTS

   <<
   -  Approximately 250,000 adoption orders have been filed
    
(http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/mcss/english/pillars/community/questions/adoption/a
bout_adopt_disclose_sys.htm) in Ontario since 1921.

   -  Almost 75,000 people have registered with Ontario's voluntary
      Adoption Disclosure Register
(http://www.gov.on.ca/ont/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_252/_s.7_0_A/7
_0_252/_l/en?docid=STEL02_160616) since 1979, searching for information about
their birth
      relatives.

   -  Ontario is the fifth Canadian province to open its adoption records.
      British Columbia (http://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/adoption/releas_adopt.html),
      Alberta (http://child.alberta.ca/home/602.cfm), Manitoba
      (http://www.gov.mb.ca/fs/childfam/registry.html) and Newfoundland and
      Labrador (http://www.gs.gov.nl.ca/gs/vs/adoption-records.stm) already
      have open records, as do the United Kingdom
      (http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/adoptions/adoptioncontactregister/)
      and New South Wales
      (http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/DOCS/STANDARD/PC_101095.htm).

   LEARN MORE

   -  Visit ServiceOntario to learn more about services and information for
      adoptees and birth relatives
(http://www.gov.on.ca/ont/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_252/_s.7_0_A/7
_0_252/_l/en?docid=STEL02_160609).