Read more at the National Post.
Read MoreCreating connection for adoptive parents
From the Star: Adopt4Life offers advocacy, support and guidance for parents and caregivers throughout their lifelong adoption journey.
Read MoreAdvocates seek privacy rights for foster kids after age 21 so they can get ‘fresh start’
A Barrie woman is leading the charge to get former foster children the same protections as young offenders. Read the full article at Toronto Star by Marg. Bruineman.
Read MoreAn Ontario Grandmother Shares What It's Like Being A Kinship Caregiver Of Two
They play a crucial role, but the lack of support can cause hardships.
Read the full article on Huffington post by Al Donato
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The Stand Up for Kids Award winner announced
For the third consecutive year, dozens of remarkable and inspiring Canadians were nominated for the Lynn Factor Stand Up for Kids National Award. Our own founder and Executive Director, Julie was selected as one of the finalists!
Read more at Cafdn.
Julie Despaties, Executive Director and Founder of Adopt4Life, recognized as national finalist for the 2020 Lynn Factor Stand Up for Kids Award
Julie Despaties, Executive Director and Founder of Adopt4Life, recognized as national finalist for the 2020 Lynn Factor Stand Up for Kids Award, from the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada.
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Post-Adoption Depression Is A Problem We Don't Talk About Enough
Having the blues after your baby or child moves in is actually really normal. Read more.
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How To Get Help When A Child Or Teen Is Violent Towards A Parent
It's a taboo that isolates parents and is misunderstood among professionals. For some families, the pandemic is only intensifying this crisis. Read more.
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A Call to Action
Governments across Canada must urgently work together to strengthen counseling services, emergency respite and subsidies during the COVID- 19 pandemic, to better support our most vulnerable children, youth and their families (customary caregivers, kinship caregivers, legal guardians, foster families and adoptive families).
Read MoreParents, It's Good For Your Mental Health To Cry During A Pandemic
Bawling your heart out might be your best pandemic parenting tool… Read more.
Read MoreCanada’s Foster Youth ‘Age Out’ Of Care Into Uncertainty Of Coronavirus Pandemic
“It's cruel to throw kids, not just off the edge of a cliff, but into a maelstrom.” Read more.
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The journey to parenthood through adoption
Adoption Options... Another Door Opens
For many years, Canadian families adopted children from China and other counties. But, with the changes to China's one-child policy and other global efforts to keep children in their country of origin, international adoptions by Canadians have plummeted. The Agenda discusses what the options are for families who wish to adopt children from countries other than Canada.
Watch the full segment on TVO’s The Agenda.
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Parents who adopt get less paid leave than biological parents. That’s unfair, new report says
Adoptive parents often describe a “honeymoon period” with their new children that can last weeks or months. But as the kids become more comfortable, the layers of trauma begin to reveal themselves…
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The holidays can be triggering. Here’s how to cope
Before adopting my daughter, I’d fantasized for a long time about our perfect first Christmas.
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Adoptive parents seek longer leave
Western researchers are leading a national push for 15 more weeks of work leave for adoptive parents as an important way to strengthen the bond between parents and their adopted children.
Read more on Western University News.
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Adoptive parents need more time off to bond with kids, say Western researchers
A group of Western University researchers and community partners are asking Canadian politicians to grant adoptive parents and caregivers more time to bond with their children during the early stages of adoption.
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CBC News: A call for 15 more weeks of parental leave for adoptive parents
Chair of the Ontario's Adoptive Parents Association board and Western University professor and researcher, Carolyn McLeod tells London Morning why adoptive parents could use an additional 15 weeks of parental leave.
Listen on London Morning.
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Western team advocates for attachment leave for adoptive parents
A team of Western University researchers in partnership with Adopt4Life: Ontario’s Adoptive Parents Association is advocating for a new class of employment insurance benefits for adoptive parents, and customary and kin caregivers.
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Adopt4Life on CTV London
CTV News interviews adoptive mother and former foster parent, Laura Dunlop-Dibbs on the challenges of the early trauma that affects her son, and how agencies like the new Non-profit Adopt4Life as interviewed by Julie Despaties, founder, is working to support the caregivers and adoptive parents of children and young people in and from child welfare.
Watch on CTV Calgary.
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