“(T. he last in a series of three articles prepared by the

People: Ss Law School an adopting a child in B.C.)

A: 1980 survey showed that 75 per cent of B.C.

residents polled thought foste

ring ‘a child meant

sending $10 a month to a Third World child.

Such confusion is no news
to the Ministry of Human
Resources (MHR) which
cares for thousands of
homeless children here in
B.C. Many people, it says,
don’t. understand - “what,
fostering i8,"or how it differs
from adopting.

‘Chris Reinhold,
ordinator of Family and
Children's Services with the
MHR, says, “We try to make

clear to people that there is a '

difference. If they want a
child for keeps, we cen-
courage them to go through
the adoption channel.”
Foster. children, she says,
may. remain wards. of the
-state even though they are

4

Co-

They = are

temporarily i in the care of a

foster parent. About 60 per
cent of the 9,000 children in
the MHR’s care are only
temporary wards of the
state. They come from
familjes in which the parents
are temporarily unable to
look after them, often due to
family breakdown or illness.
They ara, aed to their
families. w Haver. possible;
in the + watitene Yhayenced
an alternate home.

The remaining 40 per cent
are permanent legal wards of
the state. Many of them are
_ children with special needs

‘who are considered hard to

place with adopting families.
usually older

i

children, or children with
physical or behavioral
problems. The MHR
estimates that about 15 per
cent of these children come
from homes in which they
were victims of serious abuse
or neglect.

Problems arise when
foster parents become so
attached to their foster
children that they are un-
willing to give them up. Jane
Auxier, a B.C. lawyer who
works in the adoptions area,

says she’s seen painful cases

where foster parents have
unsuccessfully tried to adopt
the baby they've been
looking after for some time.

Reinhold says the MHR
discourages foster parents
from trying to adopt foster
children for fear thay
_ fostering will be seen Ag.a
‘kind of back, aor to
adoption. Most people, she
pays, know that adopting a

’

process and may be tempted
to obtain a child through
fostering a simpler
method.

Auxier says, “Time does |
go by and the foster parents
form such a strong at-
tachment that you find
yourself weighing the best
interests of the child in terms
of whether it's best to ignore
the policy and leave the
‘fogyer child with its foster
famit}; near. be concerned
whether that's*gding tq give
foster parents a back door td
adoption.”

Unlike adopting parents,
foster parents are paid by the
MHR for costs incurred for
the upkeep of the child. The
payments are modest,
though they may actually be
more than the natural parent
would get on welfare for the
child.

CONTINUED ON PAGE C3

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