How to Adopt a Child From Foster Care in Ontario

Many foster parents come to love a child in their care and wonder whether they can adopt. In Ontario this happens through a public adoption, which involves a children's aid society and the court.

This article explains the steps, the role of the society, what extended society care means for consent, and what the law says after an adoption is finalized.

Public adoption and the society's role

Ontario recognizes a public adoption as the adoption of a child in the permanent care of a children's aid society. Adoptive parents must be Ontario residents and can be a couple or a single person.

Only a children's aid society or a licensee may place a child with another person for adoption. So the society is central to the process. Foster care and adoption are different: as a foster parent you are caring for a child, while adoption makes you the child's legal parent.

The steps and what to expect

• Public adoption costs prospective adoptive parents nothing.
• Applicants complete a mandatory SAFE homestudy, which involves four to six interviews over four to six months.
• Applicants also complete the 27-hour PRIDE training. SPIRIT training and the HEART homestudy tool are alternatives for adopting Indigenous children.
• There is no set waiting period. After approval, matching typically takes six months to two years or longer, and the most important consideration is the child's best interests.
• Placement is followed by an adoption adjustment period of at least six months before the court finalizes the adoption.

Ontario says the adoption process can take at least a year and sometimes longer.

Extended society care and consent

Under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, a child may be in extended society care. When a child is in extended society care, a Director's written consent is needed instead of the parents' consent.

Other consents still apply. A person aged seven or older must give their own written consent after a chance to get counselling and independent legal advice. If you apply as a spouse, the other spouse must also consent in writing.

Before the hearing, a Director must file a statement. It generally requires that the child has lived with the applicant for at least six months, and its basis is a report of the child's adjustment in the home. For a child placed by a society or licensee, an application may go ahead with less than six months' residence if the Director's statement gives the reasons. If the statement is negative, it must be filed and served on the applicant at least 30 days before the hearing.

If the society says no

If a society refuses a foster parent's or another person's adoption application, or decides to remove a placed child, it must give at least 10 days' written notice. The person may apply to the Board for a review within 10 days, and the Board decides on the child's best interests.

The deadline is short, so get advice quickly if you receive a notice.

Contact with birth family and what comes after

For a child in extended society care with an adoption plan, the society may apply for an openness order before the adoption order is made. The court must be satisfied that the order is in the child's best interests and keeps up a beneficial and meaningful relationship, and several people must consent, including the child if 12 or older. A person who held an access order for a child in society care and gets notice of the plan to place the child for adoption may apply for an openness order within 30 days after receiving the notice.

Openness does not always mean visits, and can allow various kinds of contact. An openness agreement may also be made at any time before or after the adoption order. Failing to follow an agreement does not affect the validity of the adoption order.

On the date of the order, the child becomes your child and each former parent stops being a parent. The order is final and irrevocable, subject only to appeals.

What to do next

• Talk to the children's aid society caring for the child about your wish to adopt.
• Prepare for the SAFE homestudy and PRIDE training, and for a long process.
• Ask the society what openness arrangements are planned for the child.
• Keep any written notice from the society and note the review deadline.
• Speak with a family lawyer if the society refuses your application or plans to move the child.

Frequently asked questions