Programs and Services : Adoption Services

Adoptive Parents

Process Home Study Types of Adoption

Types of Adoption

By the time your home study is complete, you will need to decide which type of adoption you are planning to pursue.  There are three main general adoption programs within BC to choose from: Domestic, Ministry and Inter-County.  Each has unique factors involving aspects like:  age of children available, loacation of children, known risk factors, placement, and openness.  Please refer to the following chart for details:

	Domestic	Ministry (MCFD)	Inter-Country
Age of Children	Newborn/under 6 months	mainly over 3years	Variable
Location of Children	Within BC	Within BC	In Country of birth
Risk Factors	Low risk	variable	variable
Placement of Child	Hospital	Foster homes	Orphanages
Openness	Letters/photos/visits	Letters/photos/visits	Progress Reports
Reason for Placement	Voluntary	Trauma and safety	Poverty
Availability of Children	Limited	1300 Plus	Variable

The Adoption Centre of British Columbia faciliates all three of these types of adoption.

Domestic Newborn Adoption

Adoptions where both the birth parents and adoptive parents are from BC.
more info...

Ministry of Children and Family Development Adoptions

Adoptions of children who reside in foster homes within BC and who are available for adoption.        more info...

Inter-Country Adoptions

Adoptions where the child is from another country (or province) and the adoptive parents are from BC.
more info...

Dual Jurisdiction Registrations

Our province allows prosepctive adoptive parents apply to a maximum of two jurisdictions at the same time.  This means that you have the option of applying to more that one country to adopt.  However, you can only receive one propsoal at a time and you must be reassessed to adopt before another child can join you family. more info...

Two other types of adoptions we are able to help facilitate are:

Direct Placement

A direct placement occurs when the birth parents and prospective adoptive parents already know each other and are making adoption plans.  more info...

Step Parent

A "Younger Child's Views" report is required when a child between the ages of seven and twelve is being adopted by a step parent.  more info...