Adopting a Child From CAS Care in Ontario: The Legal Process

Not every adoption in Ontario begins with a private arrangement between two families. Many children in the province are in the ongoing legal care of a Children's Aid Society, and a number of them are eligible to be adopted by a foster parent, a relative, or another approved adoptive applicant. Adopting a child from CAS care follows its own legal process — one that differs in several ways from a private or step-parent adoption.

This guide walks through who's generally eligible, what the process looks like in broad strokes, and how adopting a child already in society care compares to other adoption routes in Ontario.

Understanding "Extended Society Care"

Under Ontario's child protection legislation, a court can place a child in extended society care when a judge decides the child cannot safely return to a parent and no other plan is appropriate. While a child holds this status, the Children's Aid Society carries legal responsibility for them, and a parent generally no longer holds decision-making authority over the child. That earlier court finding is part of what makes a child in extended society care legally available for adoption — it isn't something an adoptive family arranges directly with a birth parent.

Who Can Adopt a Child From CAS Care

• Current foster parents who have been caring for the child
• Relatives or others with an existing relationship with the child (often called kinship adoption)
• Approved adoptive applicants matched through a Children's Aid Society or a licensed adoption agency
• Single applicants or couples, married or unmarried
• Anyone who completes the required home study and any training the agency asks for

How This Differs From a Private or Step-Parent Adoption

The Process, Step by Step

1. Register your interest with a Children's Aid Society or licensed adoption agency and complete any required training.
2. Complete a home study assessing your home, relationship, and capacity to parent.
3. Be matched with a child whose plan is adoption.
4. Begin a placement period, with the child living in your home before the adoption is finalized.
5. Once the placement is going well, your lawyer files the adoption application in court.
6. Attend the finalization hearing.
7. Receive the adoption order and register it to obtain a new birth certificate.

What Changes Legally

• The adoptive parent becomes the child's full legal parent, with all the rights and responsibilities that come with it.
• The child inherits from the adoptive parent, the same as a birth child would.
• The Children's Aid Society's ongoing legal role in the child's life ends.
• A new birth registration can be obtained reflecting the adoptive parent.

Some adoptions from care also involve an openness arrangement — an agreement allowing some continued contact with birth family members after the adoption, where that's considered appropriate. Whether this applies, and on what terms, depends on the specific case.

Frequently asked questions