Debates of November 29, 2007 (day 5)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. November is National Adoption Awareness Month. It is an opportunity to recognize adoptive families in the Northwest Territories who have opened both their hearts and their homes to children in need of a family.

Adoption provides a child with permanence and security. All children need roots and a feeling that they belong to a family. This feeling of belonging affects a child’s sense of self-worth. It helps to determine how children see themselves in relation to others and to their communities.

The face of adoption has changed over the years and there are now children of all ages being adopted in the NWT, including children with special needs. Many hopeful adoptive parents believe that children will enrich their lives and they have found that the experience far exceed their expectations.

More importantly, children’s lives are positively changed forever when caring people commit to meeting their needs and accepting the rewards and challenges of parenting.

A department-lead adoption is when a child who in department custody of the director of child and family services is matched with a family seeking adoption. A private adoption occurs when the biological parent(s) and adopting parent(s) agree between themselves and, subject to the approval of the director of adoptions, go through a legal process to adopt a child. An aboriginal custom adoption occurs according to the custom of the local aboriginal group or band. The process includes the review and approval by Commissioners appointed by the Minister and the adoption is filed with the Supreme Court.

In 2006-2007, there were 44 adoptions; 35 were aboriginal custom adoptions and the remaining nine being department and private adoptions.

As we recognize National Adoption Awareness Month, let us celebrate adoptive families and the children who benefit from these adoptions each year in the NWT.

---Applause