Canadian Orphans are Placed Second

by Elizabeth Wiebe

As an advocate for orphaned children in Canada, I am compelled to ask: "Why is it that a Canadian couple finds it easier to adopt four overseas children (aged 1 - 11) rather than to adopt a single Canadian child in Toronto, Halifax or Vancouver?''

It's a vital question when you understand the terrifying issue of abandonment experienced by our children who have lost their parents. My mother emigrated from Russia as an orphan - she was eight years old and her brother was four. Both were orphaned by the Russian revolution.

When I was 18 months my mother died of brain cancer. Having been in an orphanage, it was my mother's biggest fear that I would be placed in one. I was shuffled between relatives and my father during the years following. Just as stability and the beginning of school were ordering my life, my father died of cancer when I was seven. I was separated from my two brothers and taken in by fundamentalist Mennonite relatives. Then my aunt, whom I had come to love as my own, died when I was 16 years old.

It was then that my life fell apart. I lost both family and community.

It was all so quiet - like nothing had happened.

There was no physical or sexual abuse; No broken bones or bruises - no visible scars. Not all trauma is drama.

People become blinded by the drama of physical and sexual abuse. Psychological trauma is so invisible that most ignore the quiet, compliant, hollow-hearted children as they are placed into their new or temporary homes. They are deemed "OK. They are lucky."

Psychological trauma is unseen by most adults and largely ignored, leaving an untold story. Research shows that while many books have been published about abuse none tell the story of the unseen pain of abandonment.

It is the inner feeling of abandonment that I understand and share with all abandoned children whatever their circumstance.

While researching my recently published book "Orphan - Through the Eyes of an Orphan" - my attention was drawn to the plight of other orphans in Canada. I fear for orphaned children in Canada - no longer in orphanages - they are children in foster care.

Stats Canada has no statistics on orphaned (abandoned) children in Canada. I've obtained data from the several Canadian adoption organizations and agencies. There are 88,000 children in foster care in Canada of these, 49 per cent are "Crown Wards"- looked after by the provincial governments.

Several Canadian families have applied for orphanage status (and were denied) "they applied because they foster more than 100 kids and often juggle 5 or more at a time".

It is far too easy to remove children from their homes. 25,000 are in foster care because their mothers are in jail - often on minor charges while legal processes delay. Abandonment issues are not recognized. Thousands of children in foster care are waiting for adults to "roll the dice" on their future.

The cost of one child in foster care for one year is $40,000. "Forty three per cent of these children experience violence in the foster care setting." They exist in every city of Canada. Their plight has not been brought to public attention. They are children who have fallen through the cracks.

There are 22,000 children waiting for adoption in Canada. Every year the number of adoptions decline. There are only 1700 adoptions a year - these are approximate numbers - from the different areas in separate provinces. This data is 4 years old!

The Federal government must become involved in the welfare of our children.

I suggested this in a letter to Prime Minister Steven Harper; his office replied saying "Adoption in Canada is a matter of provincial jurisdiction".

Not only that, Mr. Harper recently chaired a proposal to make overseas adoptions easier while regulations for adoptions of Canadian Children lie stagnant and fraught with red tape - and our children languish in abandonment.

The fact that there are 5 - 7 million hits on each Canadian Adoption website describes the huge interest in adoption in Canada; Then why aren't there more adoptions?

Every day people come to tell me their story - how they really tried to adopt a Canadian orphan, but the process was too filled with red tape: "it was discouraging", "It was slow and arduous", and "It was insulting". They all say the same thing - "we went elsewhere" or "we gave up altogether"; "maybe we'll get pregnant".

We have statistics on all the orphaned children in foreign countries but we do not have Statistics on Canadian orphaned children. If you don't measure it - you can't manage it.

The Canadian system favours support of foster care rather than adoption - there is no support for adoptive parents. It costs money to look after an abandoned child (psychologically and medically); why not give to adoptive parents $1000 per month rather than $40,000 to foster one child.

There are many potential loving adoptive parents in Canada and there are many orphaned children waiting to be adopted.

The Canadian adoption process needs to be made easier throughout Canada. Let's get working to unite them in loving and happy homes.

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About the author:

Elizabeth Wiebe is an Ottawa based writer and author of "Orphan - Through the Eyes of an Orphan". She is the founder and president of a non-profit foundation, "The Elizabeth Wiebe Society for Orphaned Children in Canada" and can be reached at www.orphan-book-blog.org or www.elizabethwiebesociety.org