recommendations: adoption searches

It is our collective opinion based on a combination of professional working knowledge from within the field, an adoptee who has experienced the process of Ministry led searches as well as the results of our critical analysis of current and past adoption policy that adoption searches be included in adoption legislation. Searches offered in former adoption legislation have worked well and provided a valuable service that minimized any potential access discrimination for those who might not be able to conduct their own searches. We have learned through this process that the various CAS agencies that handles adoptions have had a certain degree of autonomy in terms of how much background information is collected and/or provided to the adoptee or birth parent. This fact alone can have an impact on how easy or difficult a search might be to find an individual. Once again, with trained staff with ready access to government documents it seems to be the most logical and equitable way to provide a service to those who would benefit. D.