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Dram atic Changes in the Can. Adoption Pîcture by Jean Ahlvik 01,ne of the most dramatic sociological changes since the turn of the decade bas been the radical reversalinl the, adoption pattern. Lu 1969, one ifthe larger Chiidren's Aid ýocieties in Ontario was .;ending distress calîs like this around the province, "We have nearly 300 baby boys for wbom we bave no homes. Can you help us? " However, two years later, 1,215 approved and processed Ontario couples were on lists waiting to receive a chiid. The reasons are obvious. First, fewer babies bave been born because of the accessibil- ity of the birtb control pill and the relaxed abortion, laws. Iu September 1970, homes for unwed mothers were jammed and many had long waiting lists. Six montbs later, tbey were only baîf full. This sudden development seemed to bave bappened simultan- eously la Canada, Britain and the United States. Another reason wby fewer babies are available is the change lu the moral climate. t is estimated that 66 per cent of unwed mothers are now electing to keep their babies. Scarcity of Babies The scarcity of babies available for adoption bas changed the wbole adoption picture lu Ontario. Ln 1970, 47.1 per cent of tbe children adopted were under one-year- old. Two, years later, thîs figure had dropped to 39.2 per cent and it bas been decliing steadily ever since. Aitbougb more older cbild- ren bave been, adopted, the number of total adoptions is down significantly. By the end of November, Durham Reg- ion's Family and Cildren's Services (formerly Children's Aid Society) bas placed 32, bilîdren lu adoptive homes for the year. This compares witb 58 placed by the same montb iast year. Long lists of waiting parents bave led to many new kinds of adoptions. Private adoptions are on tbe' increase propor- tionally. Lu 1972, Cildren's Aid Society's adoptions feli by well over 1000 lu Ontario while ,r ivate adoptions decreased yonly 10. 1\" Doctors and lawyers are usually the agents for irivate -"I PUT MY FOOT IN 1I!" A recent chart shows building construction costs have in- creased 40 per cent during the past 3 vears. A home or commercial building costing $30,000 three years ago wouîd- cost $42,000 ta replace today., Be safe - bring your property insurance up ta full replace- ment value, with' James Agency. Jammaes Insurance A ge 'nc Limited 24 Kina St. E., Box 100 BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO DOUGLAS S. JAMES Off ice 623-4.406 Residence 623-5023 adoptions and so the costs usually run around $400. The cost f or adopting, a child from Family and Cbîldren's Serv- ices is1 approximately $10 for the paperwork. Parents who ado pt privately usually wait only three to four months instead of the year or two it can take with the Fam.ily and Children's Serv- ices. The government agency stili. plays a decisive role however. Tbey inspect the cbild with its adoptive parents twice in the home after the child is placed. When the final adoption papers come before the courts (usually 6-9 montbs af ter the'child is placed), the Family and Cbildren's Serv- ices advise the court whether or hlot the adoption shouid be finalized. Their advice is invariably followed. Advertises for Parents One lawyer explains that hie advertises when acting for a couple wbo wish to adopt privately. His six day ads run as follows: "Child wanted for adoption. Prospective parents are anxious to give love and a good home to a baby under 2 years of age. Will wait several months." Each of these ads usuaily brings three or four appropriate replies. Some girls cail to see if there is any money involved but the law- yer has to be very careful that no money changes hands except for bis own fee for legal services, The penalty tfor buying and selling infants is a fine o f $2,000 and three years in prison. The natural parents have 21 days after they have signed the first adoption papers to change thei mns. Af ter that, they must take it to court to reverse the decision. SProblem for Singles There is also a move for single parents to be ailowed to ado pt; however, the Ontario Child Welfare Act specif les that "adoptive parents must be married . . . except in exceptional circumstances". There are so few children available for adoption that the Children's Aid Society or the Family and Children's Serv- ices as the are called in some places, do not encourage single people's applications. In desperation, many sing- les are turning to international adoption as a way around thi rblem. Even for many married people, adopting a child from a war-torn or underdeveioped country is a wonderful opportunity to make a meaningful contribu- tion-to the world. Parents who adopt cbildren from Korea, VietNam or Bangladesh must, be very highly motivated. Besides the obvious problems of disease, malnutrition and, emotional damage, the autb- or7ities of the countries involv- ed erect enormous barricades of red tape. An international adoption costs anywhere from. $500 to $1000. Several years ago a Mont- real adoption agency called Famnilles for Children was able to bring out 15 Bangla- desh to waiting Canadian families. Mrs. Heike Ferrie whose husband is a Burlington doctor, took two of those, children. She feit there were 1many more abandoned child- ren and tried to go back six months later on bebaif of 54 other Canadian families. She reports seeing more than 1,000 abandoned cbildren in two weeks but the authorities would only let hier have eight. To. get even eigbt, she had to go on a starvation diet to convince officiais to cut some of the red ta pe. The Banglfadesh children were the products of rape by the invading Pakistani sold- iers in the Bangladesh war or else children who had been. abandoned or were diseased or orphaned. In Viet Nam, the only cbildren available for international adoption are colored or crippled or else older. Korean authorities ai AUTO &USED CARS LICENSED MECHANIC ON DUTY TOP PRICES'FOR WRECKS AND SCRAP GOOD SELECTION OF USED CARS R. R. 2 - Newcastle 987-4636 -Two Miles North of No. 2 on Morgan's Rd. 1 mg 222 King St. E.., Suite 106 Professional Bidg. Bowma nvi île Office Hours: Weekdays - 9 to 5 Telephone 623-7349 DR. W. M. RUDELL, D.D.S. 75 Kng St. E., Bowmanville Office Hours: Mon., Tues., and Thurs. S-9tiI 5 Wednesday 9 t12 Frjday 9til 4 Not open Saturday or Sunday Office-Phone 623.5790 ges corninlutbe regulations coverîng adoption. At the moment, the child welfare agency does wbat is called a "home study" to assess the suitability of prospective par- ents. Tbey couduct an inter- view witb the couple. They investigate their finances. The coup.les must pass exhaustive medicals and provide charact- er ref erences. The agency also visits the home. Provide Subsidies SMany people argue that financiai considerations are discriminatory. Lu New York State, legisiation was passed in 1968 which subsidizes famil- les wbo provide good homes for adoptable childreu. This law seems to be working very welh and several states have followed New York's lead. It bas been found that this is a very healthy and economical way of handlîng the problem of crown or state wards, that is, children wbo have been iegally servered from their parents. Special Course George Brown College in Toronto bas a course for f oster parents. Every year about 80 people take the course. Foster p arents are paid to provide homes for cbîldren from the Children's Aid Society. In bis cbapter on the 'Fractured Family' Alvin Toffler (Future Sbock) talks about "profes- sional parents who would replace the biological parents in "the hast great preserve of amateurism -parenthood". "Parde fCapos Ca~~SPs EatnDvso allow their older or crippled childtren to De acloptedi. International Adoptions In spite of ail of these drawbacks the numbers of international adoptions in Canada are going up. Forty Ontario families adopted children interna tionaly and 60 familles elsewhere in Canada. Parents who wish to bring a child into the country to adopt hlm must obtain approval from the child welfare author- ities before the immigration department can allow the child into Canada. The Child- ren's Aid Society is not committed to international adoption because they feel their responsibility is to their own wards., They do1 not consider it their duty to find children for couples who wish to adopt. More and more white famil- ies are adopting black or oriental children, .but there is itil1 significant resistance tu the idea of transracial adopt- ion. A bill forbidding whites to adopt outside of their own race was just taken off t he books in Louisiana in 1972. Ward Mark- le of the Metro Catholic Children's Aid still talks of the difficulty of finding homes for Canadian Indian children. Many of these youngsters are ado pted in the United States. T he National Association of Black Social Workers has gone on record opposing trans-racial adoption. They feel- it is an assimilationist technique and wonder how a white family can equip a black child to survive in a prejudic- ed world. Their contention is that these famiies do not really accept the fact that their ado pted child is black. The child grows up thinking white. To-day's Child One of the most gratifying changes in the adoption pict- ure is the one spearheaded by the column "To-day's Child". This column was begun 10 years ago by the Toronto Telegram. It now runs in the Toronto Star and is synidicated to 130 Ontario newspapers. It specializes in promotîng the, bard-to-place child. Children who are older or physically or intellectually handicapped. in some way often find homes through this column. One child is adopted for every day the column appears. Older chiidren are more difficuit to adopt successfully because they have often had bad experiences which have damaged themn emotionally. I-owever, many people think that adopting oldler children has definite advantages. One woman. explains that ber career is very important to her. Adoptinlg a scblool age dïitd nakes iW 'ossible to continue witbh er as well as be a mother. Other people sug- gest that it is nice to know something about the cbild you ar e adopting. "You can't kniow much about a baby." In Durham region, Dine of' the 32 children placed so far this year are over one year old. One family even adopted a teenager. Durham Director of Family and Children's Services, Barney Lewis ex- E lains that although they do ave the occasional failure in the adoption of an older cbild, the social workers try to do enough preparatory work to avoid this catastrophe. "We know bow bard it is on the child", Mr. Lewis explains. Changes Coming There are very likely chan- Business, Directory Accountancy WM. J.H. COGGINS Chartered Accountant 115 Liberty Street South Bowmanville Phone 623-3612 WILLIAM C. HALL B. comm. Chartered Accountant 361/2 King St. E., Oshawa Telephone 725-6539 Chi ropractic G. EDWIN AM nelC by Jean Ahhvick- The Eastern Canadian Divi- sion Figure 'Skating Champ- ionships wounid up lu a gala "Parade of 'Champions" on Suuday night at the Oshawa Civic Centre. The Oshawa Skating Club opened festivi- ties with their famous "Flae Ceremouy", while Oshawa's own Eastdale Collegiate Baud played the overture. The champions of each of the divisions skated their free style programs to the delight of the 2,000 fans. This parade Perhaps Mr. Toffler is flot too far off. New Form of Slavery Iu fact, Mr.. Toffler goes on to point out that the great, shock absorber-the faînily ma well disintegrate and we wil b e lef t wl t babytoriums where people cani pick out their of fspring and purcliase them. H1e even suggests that corporations migbt buy an entire work force. This bas lucredible implications. and suggests a new form of slavery. However, Mr. Tof fIer may well be wrong and the chaugiug picture lu adoption. certaiuly suggests be is. Section Two The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanvillle, Ja nuary 22, 1975 5 esteem. The senior dance ment next week and Oshawa is For, aduits with a physical pair, Susan Carscallen and a hockey town." He also disability, there exîst few Eric Gillies,,from the Toronto pointed out that this is a bad recreational or holiday op- Cricket skating and Curling time for the auto industry, Dortunities in Ontario So the Club were greatly appreciated whîch migbt have had some- Mvarch of Dimes now operates and the glamorous Ms. Cars- thiug to do witb tbe lower than speciai camps during the callen had quite a job collect- expected gate, recelpts. summer wbere bandicapped ing ail of the trihutes. Both skaters and officiais adults can enjoy a vacation. The divisionals are held to had.,bigb praise for the- establish which skaters will go organization of the four-day on to the Canadian.Chamnpion- eveut. Tbings went off on time Tbe Marcb of Dimes acts as shbp iu Quebec City, Jan. 28 to and the arena officiais were an advocate on behaif of Feb 2. Ail three divisional tremendously accommodat- disabled adults to ensure tbey. championships wereheld the in g. "Hun dreds of people receive any and ail benefits to saine January weekend and worked very bard to make the which tbey are entitled. consequently there was quite competition a success," Mr. a- run on the 1974 Canada Armstrong said. "Tbe support e4w m World Team (ail of wliom f rom the Oshawa and neg- î~ have automatîc byes into the bouriug clubs was realy'~ nationals) for guest skaters. heartwarming". AT HEATING WORK The ('anadian'Figure skatiîîg Kelly Hume wbo won the,~~ Association decided that the gold medal for the Novice RESEIO Eastern divisioîials would Ladies competition is the ITS 01.R PERMANENT have the runner-up, in last same young lady wbo collîded BN TI/T O year's Senior Ladies, Barbara with another skater ina J BN ; ï/)NO Terpenîiug and Robert Rub- practice session at the Cana- TE ens wiîo placed third ln the dians last year. She cut the 1974 Senior len's competit- muscles and tendons in ber ion. Tlîeîr star status is- left leg. The immediate prog- unquestionable. Even thoug nosis was that she would neyer bot h of them f ell in thelir final even walk again. She came numbers, they recovered so back lu less than a year to win quickly that they scarcely the medal in the Novice missed a beat of the music. Ladies division. The Surîday eveuirîg, "Par- Local fans were also pheased ade of Champions" bad ail the to note that altbough Laura glamor of an ice show with and Vince Johuston of tbe ecis' ion skatiîîg and spot- Oshawa club placed third in îghtsý~Ihe Oshawa Skating the Junior Pairs, tbey were H R E Clubhstîou]ld be complimented very close in marks to the pair otheir f ie showing. who placedsecond. This is the P~ Mr.Armnstrong was slightly Johnstou's first year as ju-* ~ ATE disppinedbvthe turnout hors and tbevar much Sunday evening. H1e philoso- younger than the other pairs ORONO 9e3ý52o6 phically explained, "We were with whom they were comipet- ESSOHOME HEAT 'n competition with the Wrig- iug. Mr. Armstrong expects S.ERVICE ley Midget Ilockey Tourna- this will be a pair to watch. BUD WAGAR - YOUR MR. IGA IN NEWCASTLE ARCTIC GARDEN CHOICE Frozen Corn CORDON BLEU lrish or Beef Stew 21B, BAG 25 OZ 79 TIN r~ :J~ I V~1i!L~ 77 K ING ST. E. BOWMANVILLE "'YOU GR INO Il FRESH AT TIME 0OF PURCHASE" IGA Sunny Morn Coffee 1 N ujy Ken-L Ration Burgers 3P3.$1c 19-F L. 3 DZ.lIN W' RUJPERT FROZEN Golden'Battered Cod P1 ý89, FROZEN BANANA. CHOCOLATE OR ORANGE i 3T015 o, Sara Lee Cakes oz PKGS 95%ê Fluffo Shortening. 'KG 65' PRICES EFFECTIVE WED, THRU SAT. JAN. 22 - 25th WE RESERVE.THIE RIGHT TO LIMfiTGUANTITIES KAM 12 OZ. BRIGHT'S - ASSORTED FLAVORS SLEEVE OU DZ.TIN ORANGE PEKUE - MK. 0F 100 REGULAR. BARBECUE OR TACO FLAVORED 150 iGRAM Q Flowerdale Tea Bags $.19 Hostess Corn Chips PG u SWEETHEART- ASSORTED COLORS PEANUT BUTTER CUPS OR REGULAR RALLY Facial Soap PK 490 Hershey Bars PAC 650 POST PLASTIC SANDWICH Honycmb eral 12 OZ85 Baggies Alligator Bags P 39. PAGHETTINI OR READV -CUT MACARONI -B SHAVING CARTRIDGES Lancia Spaghetti PKG.5910 Trac Il Blades ~. '~4 ~ SWEET Et JUICY SWE <J bida MONEY ON QUALITY DX PR E MIU M FUEL OIL UJ~~and STOVE OIL BOWMANVILLE CUSTOMERS CALL COLLECT Ask Operator for 668-3381 or Dia l 1-668-3381 CALL us DX FU EL OIL TODAYL FOR PROMPT, COURTEOUS e q'ý" ' S ER VIC E SIZE 125's DUZ GOLDEN SWEET FLORIDA FORUC Corn o1the Ob NO. 1 GRABE CRISP, PRODUCE 0F U.S.A. CRISP,B. C. CANADA EXTRA FANCY GRADE NO 1 GRADE SIZU24 Golden Deliclous ApplesB 9 ClrySalsF __ et CI 'accu A., un v si % Ail -,=cos SAS, sel p 00 of exceptional single and pairs skaters was broken by two charmiug production numbers by the Oshawa Skating Club, Ragtime Follies aud Winter Wouderland. There were a few tense moments during the perform- ance of Novice Pairs Champ- ions, Barbara Uuderhill and Jim Sorochan both of the host Oshawa Club. (Their po. Auna Forder was herselff a Canadian World team pairs skater.) Part way through the prog rami, Jim Sorochan not- iced tbat bis; left skate was comîng undone. Thoroughly, professional, lie continued whth the program uot even hesitating to perform the difficuit overhead lift-all with bis skate lace trailing ou the ice. Bob Armstrong, President of the Oshawa Skatiniz Club. said in an interview later, "We were ahl panicking! " By the time the youug p air, (she is il, hie, 13) were to do their encore, both of Jim's skates had come undone. The encore was very short but without mîshap. Throughout the evening the crowd threw flowers to the champions as tokens of their 1 V45