Adopt BC Kids

Our focus is to find adopting families who can support and accept children and youth, advocate for them, treasure their successes, work to help them to reach their full potential, and appreciate the small gifts of parenting as well as to be ready to embrace the lifelong parenting of a child or youth with a complex history.

Adopting families must accept a significant risk of prenatal exposure to alcohol, drugs and/or other substances that cannot always be confirmed.

Adopting families must accept a significant risk of behaviours that result from an exposure to trauma, neglect, multiple moves (disrupted attachment) and/or sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

Adopting families must be willing to maintain a child’s culture, relationships, and connections to family, community and significant others. Cultural Safety Agreements and Openness Agreements are developed in collaboration with others in the best interest of the child or youth.

Children and youth available for adoption in BC:

• Are mostly school-aged.
• Often belong to sibling groups of two or more.
• Have complex support needs, including physical disabilities, medical conditions, and psychiatric diagnoses.
• Have a risk of prenatal exposure to alcohol and/or drugs and/or other substances, with effects ranging from mild to severe.
• Have birth family relationships that need to be maintained.
• Require placement in a culturally compatible family.
• Require parenting support well past 19 years of age.

Post-Adoption Assistance programs can provide financial and practical support to qualifying families.

 

You must be a resident of British Columbia who is  at least 19 years of age to apply to adopt. 

Adopt BC Kids is only for families who have the skills and attributes to parent a child or youth with complex needs. If you are hoping to adopt an infant or child with low needs, please contact a British Columbia licensed adoption agency. 

Adopt BC Kids is an online portal for people who want to apply to adopt a child or youth in the foster care system with whom they do not already know or have a connection.

If you are applying to adopt your foster child/youth, or a child or youth to whom you already have a connection (family or community member) apply directly to the child/youth’s worker.

1. Apply to Adopt

• A BC Services Card account is required to access the Adopt BC Kids portal.
• Your digital ID ensures secure access to adoption services.

2. Education: LEAP Program

You will be referred to a mandatory five-hour virtual training Introduction to Adoption and Permanency Course to learn about adoption and permanency in BC.

• Families approved for the next step will be referred to complete the Learning for Everyone in Adoption and Permanency (LEAP) program, a 10-week course that takes about six to eight hours a week. The course includes watching videos, submitting journal assignments, and attending four mandatory live discussions. 
• This online course fulfills the legal requirement for pre-adoption education and covers topics like grief, trauma, and attachment.

3. Homestudy

• Families approved for the next step will have a thorough homestudy assessment involving home visits and interviews with an adoption worker. All people residing in the home will be interviewed.

4. Approval & Matching

• If approved, an adoption worker determines if you are a match for any children and youth and if so, guides you through the next steps. The focus for workers is finding the right family for the child or youth.

Openness in adoption, ranging from sharing information to direct contact, is in the best interest of the child/youth. A connection with birth family and community helps to foster healthy identity in the adopted person.

Openness agreements can be with the child/youth’s parents or guardians, grandparents, siblings, or any other relative or community member. They can also be with another person with whom the child/youth has a significant relationship (i.e. a foster parent).

An openness agreement could fall into one of the following categories:

• Fully Open: frequent contact/visitation. Full names/addresses exchanged.
• Semi-Open: occasional visits, updates, photos.
• Partially Open: initial meeting and non-identifying info only, gifts and letters exchanged through an intermediary.
• No contact: No correspondence or contact with family. Social/medical history may be available.

The Post-adoption Openness Registry gives adoptive parents, parents/guardians and other relatives the option of exchanging identifying or non-identifying information after an adoption order is granted for a child/youth who is under 19 years old.