Better Able to Make Contact

Some adoptees who do not already have their birth name, are only looking for the name and nothing else. The way the new policy is written will work for them. Similarly, when the birth parent is only looking for the adoptive name of their birth child, this policy will work for them. This may provide the adoptee with the link to their original identity and heritage that they always wondered about and the birth parent with the name they have always wondered about. Many people have no intention of actually looking for the other party at the time that they seek the name, but they know that if they ever want to do that, they have a place to start.

For the birth parents and adoptees who want to take this a step further, to actually making a connection, this policy has made a provision whereby this will be possible. If both parties have filed a contact preference with each leaving instructions about how they wish to be contacted, then contact can be made. Many adoptees feel the need to search for birth parents to fill the gaps in their identity concept. Birth parents may seek to find birth children, to address their grief or to make sure that their children had a good life. Some will be respectful of the bonds of affection and security built within the adoptive family. Others will hope that they will take on the role of being a parent.

The other group is not served by the way the policy is currently written. If the adoptee or the birth parent has not filed a contact preference, the person who is hoping to contact the other person is left with only a name. The person is left to do the search on their own. They have the option of registering with the current passive Adoption Disclosure Registry and wait for the other party to register. If both are registered, then a connection can be made for them.

The policy could allow for a new process to be set up where the registry would give generic information about how to conduct a search. They could give specific information which would allow them to narrow their search. This would avoid people blindly approaching random people who have similar last names.

Another option would be for the Ministry to find current information about where the other party is, make a connection to determine if they wish to be approached, and if so, pass the information on to the person who is searching. This is similar to the process of the former Adoption Disclosure Registry when it was formerly able to do a search on behalf of the adopted person.

H.