Since 1927, Ontario has implemented and expanded a "closed" adoption system. In this system, when a first parent surrenders a child for adoption, the laws state that the child's original Statement of Live Birth must be placed in a sealed record along with any information that might identify the child's first family. Under no condition will these records be turned over to the adoptee. When the child is adopted, the adoptive parents create a new Statement of Live Birth replacing the first parents' information with their own. Essentially, the child is permanently cut off from his/her family and heritage. At no time after the adoption is finalized, can the first parents rescind their decision; at no time may they seek access to the child's new identifying information.
Over the last forty years, many adoptees, now adults, have begun to vocalize their need to establish ties with their first families. From this need grew the adoption reunion movement. In 1987, the Ontario government established the Adoption Disclosure Registry (ADR). Today adult adoptees and their first relatives may register with the ADR. The law also states that adoptees and first parents may apply to the Children's Aid Society (CAS) which handled the adoption and receive non-identifying background information about the family member lost through adoption.
Throughout the twentieth century, the CASs actively persuaded pregnant unmarried women to relinquish their children rather than try and raise them as single mothers. This complimented a societal view that out-of-wedlock pregnancies were immoral and the women who found themselves pregnant were in need of correction and punishment. Few, if any, economic "crutches" were in place to help women support themselves and their babies. As a result, many women surrendered children whom they wanted to keep. Recent research has shown that many of these women never forgot their children and, in fact, lived for many years with a deep but secret longing for reunion.
In the latter quarter of the twentieth century, many adoptees and first relatives joined together to form adoption reunion groups. Individual members, who have become adept at searching for missing unidentified members of the adoption community, provide assistance and support for others as they begin their search. Some therapists and psychiatrists have come to realize that adoption affects individuals in a variety of primarily negative ways.
World Trends
Legislative change has occurred in many western countries over
the last fifteen years. In Canada, British Columbia, Newfoundland, Nunavut
and the Northwest Territories all have laws which allow adult adoptees
and their first parents to access identifying information on family members
lost through adoption. Other countries such as Israel, the United Kingdom,
the Netherlands, Finland, New Zealand and some Australian states have
recognized that adoptees have a right to this information and opened their
records accordingly.