PRESS RELEASE: 2015 Support4EveryFamily
Adopt4Life to publish 28 Permanency Support Stories in 28 Days with its 2nd social media outreach campaign #Support4EveryFamily
Throughout February, Ontario’s Adoptive Parent Association will use Family Day’s month of February to provide narratives from families that give evidence to the need for permanency support for all families formed through adoption, kinship, or customary care.
Toronto, Ontario, February 1st, 2015 – Today Adopt4Life, Ontario’s non-profit Adoptive Parent Association, announced the start of #Support4EveryFamily; a family outreach campaign through social media channels. Coinciding with Family Day’s month, the awareness campaign will highlight the urgent need for readily available, province-wide support for every adoptive child and family in Ontario, from time of placement, through the transition period and into adulthood.
Every day in February 2015, Adopt4Life will feature a personal story of one family in Ontario describing how they have overcome or continue to struggle due to having or lacking government support. The story will appear on Adopt4Life’s website, and will be available through the association’s Facebook and Twitter channels using the hashtag #Support4EveryFamily.
“Ontario has nearly 7,000 children awaiting forever families and we must ensure that when they are placed with their forever families all resources and supports are accessible to them right away and are ongoing to reduce the risk of disruption and create opportunities for all of Ontario’s children to meet their full potential,” says Julie Despaties, Founder of Adopt4Life. “Too many adoptive children and families are struggling in isolation without the same supports that were available to their children while they were in care.”
According to the 2009 Province of Ontario’s Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption report, Raising Expectations: Recommendations of the Expert Panel on Infertility and Adoption,
“’Each year of the past five years, approximately 1,600 children were adopted into families in Ontario: more than 900 through public adoption, 650 through intercountry adoption and about 150 through private domestic adoption’. These families and the many others before and after them need ‘the best start and ongoing support as they move through life”. In the Urgency around Permanency: A Stakeholder’s Summit, the Governor General of Canada, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, acknowledged the reality that permenancy does not exist for many children; he stated, “the sad fact that every year, thousands of children go without a permanent home, and every year their risk factors multiply”. It is a known fact that children do better when they are a part of permanent families. We at Adopt4Life know that many people or individuals would like to build their families through adoption but barriers due to cost or lack of permanency support keep them from following through or contribute to the disruption of children placed with them.
Ontario’s adoptive families need post placement training in attachment and trauma and the means to better understand the behaviors of their adopted children. They also need mentors and advocates to guide and normalize their journey so they do not feel alone or isolated. They need support to alleviate the financial burden of therapy, medical, dental and educational needs as they arise - costs related to their trauma but often incurred long after placement. Studies have identified that permanency support empowers parents in helping their children reach their full potential which is good for both the government and taxpayers of Ontario. Supporting children in permanent families is far less costly than foster care, and with the right supports, permanency increases with successful outcomes of children and, therefore, society.
The first story posted today on the Adopt4Life website Support4EveryFamily tells of a family that adopted a large sibling group and how support provided for counsellors, respite care, and tutors helped make theirs a successful adoption. Their children once troubled by past traumas are now thriving and healing. The Adopt4Life website will feature a new story every day by 9AM EST. Note that all pseudonyms, when used, are a means to protect the requested privacy of individuals.
Adopt4Life believes Ontario can do better in ensuring successful outcomes for adoptive children with qualified, accessible and timely #Support4EveryFamily.
About Adopt4Life
Adopt4life is Ontario’s Adoptive Parent Association, a non-profit organization. We advocate at the government level for an improved adoption process and for better services, and provide support and guidance to adoptive families from the moment they are “Adopt Paper Ready” throughout their parenting journey. Inclusive of ALL Ontario adoptive parents, including: public, private, international, kin care, customary care and moral adoption. Adopt4Life believes Ontario can do better when it comes to forming families through adoption and seeks #AHome4EveryKid with #Support4EveryFamily. Find out more at www.Adopt4Life.com.