Adoption update report charts progress in B.C.
Ministry hopeful it will meet its two-year adoption target of 600 children
An update report issued by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C's representative for children and youth, and the B.C. Ministry of Children and Families shows that province-wide 451 children and youth, including 69 aboriginal children. have been adopted out of government care in the last 20 months,
The report entitled B.C. Adoption Update, notes that aboriginal children are vastly over represented in B.C. government care, and that a special focus on that group has resulted in the number of available aboriginal adoptive home in B.C increasing from 44 to 56.
"We're making headway on the adoptions front and I want to thank all the parents who have stepped forward to take in a waiting child," said Minister of Children and Family Development Stephanie Cadieux.
A total of 947 children are currently awaiting adoption, up from 942 a year ago.
The B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development has so far achieved 75 per cent of its goal of 600 adoptions over a two year period ending in March of 2016.
"I am hopeful the ministry will meet its two-year target of 600 adoptions, although the need extends well beyond that goal, with hundreds more children waiting for their forever families," said Turpel-Lafond.