METRO TORONTO: Hundreds of Ontario adoption cases on hold as Motherisk probe continues

Adopt4Life, an Ontario support and advocacy organization for adoptive parents, has received calls from more than a dozen parents whose adoptions have been put on hold because of the scandal.

“This is going to be very difficult for everyone — the children, the birth families and the adoptive parents,” said executive director Julie Despaties.

Her organization, formed in 2014 to provide parent-to-parent support to families at various stages of the adoption process, has about 500 members, including about 250 adoptive parents and those on adoption probation. Despaties worries that many parents “don’t even know this is happening.”

Many are on adoption probation, a situation that is already tense, said Despaties, who finalized her own adoption in Toronto a year ago.

“The longer it takes, the more angst children have because they are afraid of being transferred to other families.”

“Right now our hope is that the (ministry) will be able to give us a timeline so that we can help our kids and our families,” she said.