Adoption in Canada | Adoption Terms

Glossary of Terms
You say "Real mother," I say "Birth mother." You say "Give up a baby for adoption" I say "Place a baby for adoption".

Before you can walk the walk, you have to know how to talk the talk. Here's a quick guide of a few of adoption's more commonly used terms and what they mean.

Adoptee: person who has been adopted.
Adoption: legal process involving the transfer of parental rights from birth parents to adoptive parents.
Adoption Agency: provincially licensed organization responsible for placing children with prospective adoptive individuals or families. Can be privately or publicly run.
Adoption Agreement: document in which birth parents and adoptive parents agree to a plan that lays out the parametres of their relationship and the degree of communication between them.
Adoption Decree: document issued by the court once an adoption is finalized that states the adoptee is the legal child of the adoptive parents.
Adoption Exchange: event that facilitates the matching of waiting children with prospective adoptive parents.
Adoption Facilitator: individuals who assist prospective adoptive parents in their quest to find a child. Can be licensed or unlicensed. Illegal in some parts of Canada and the US.
Adoption Licensee: individual or agency that arranges placement of adoptive children.
Adoption Plan: refers to the legally non-binding arrangement between the birth parents and the adoptive parents regarding the placement and rearing of their child.
Adoption Practitioner: also known as social worker, it refers to the provincially-licensed professional who counsels birth parents and waiting parents about adoption.
Adoption Records: refers to formal and informal documents pertaining to an adoption.
Adoptive Parent: person who legally assumes responsibilities and obligations of parenting an adopted child. In some cases, may be related to the child.
Adoption Professional: individual authorized to provide adoption services.
Adoption Triad: three parties involved in an adoption -- adoptive parents, birth parents and adoptees.
Affidavit: a legal document in which the person who makes it swears that the information contained in the document is true to the best of his/her knowledge.
Algar: scoring system used to evaluate newborns at one minute and five minutes of life.
Attachment: degree of bonding established between child and his/her parent or caregiver during infancy and early childhood.
Amended Birth Certificate: birth certificate issues after the adoption is finalized.
Biracial: person whose parents are of different races.
Birth Parents: biological or genetic parents of the child placed for adoption.
Bonding: process by which a baby develops strong, lasting ties with his/her parent or caregiver.
Child Profile:comprehensive review of a child's family and medical history.
Closed Adoption: adoption in which the adoptive parents and the birth parents have no identifying information about each other.
Congenital: condition present since birth.
Consent Form: legal document signed by the birth parents to voluntarily relinquish the legal guardianship of their child.
Criminal Clearances: process used by police or RCMP to determine whether the applicant has a criminal record.
Custody: legal responsibility of guarding and protecting a child.
Disrupted Adoption: adoption that fails before finalization.
Early Intervention: process that allows medical specialists to determine physical and mental problems in infants so as to provide short/long-term treatment.
Facilitator: private or public agency, or individual (licensed or unlicensed) who helps arrange an adoption.
Family Profile: see home study.
Fetal Alcohol Effect: cognitive and behavioural birth defects shown in children born to mothers who used alcohol during pregnancy.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: physical and behavioural birth defects shown in children born to mothers who abused alcohol during pregnancy.
Finalization: legal procedure giving adoptive individual or couple permission to adopt.
Fine Motor Skills: refers to area of development pertaining to the use of a child's hands and eyes.
Foster Care: temporary placement of a child.
Gross Motor Skills: refers to an area of development pertaining to how a child controls his/her more important body movements.
Home Study: process that assesses and prepares prospective adoptive parents for the responsibilities of adoption.
Identifying Information: information about birth parents, adoptive parents or adoptee such as full names and addresses.
Independent Adoption: any adoption not undertaken by an agency.
Infertility: inability to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term.
International Adoption: also known as intercountry adoption, refers to any adoption from another country, including the US.
Involuntary Termination of Parent Rights: legal procedure where the legal rights of birth parents to a child are terminated by the court without their signed consent.
Legal Guardian: individual who makes legal decisions for a child; their signed consent.
Legal Risk Adoption: adoption where a child is placed with prospective adoptive parents prior to the termination of the birth parents' rights.
Life Book: a scrapbook or photo album chronicling a child's history done by his/her adoptive parent or parents.
Matching: process of finding prospective parents or a parent suitable for a waiting child.
Networking: efforts made by waiting parents to make birth parents aware of their desire to adopt.
Open Adoption: adoption where birthparents and adoptive parents know of each other and exchange information.
Non-identifying information: the medical and social history exchanged between the birth parents and adoptive parents that omits any reference to names or addresses or any other identifying information.
Open Records: accessibility to adoption records by each member of the triad.
Placement: refers to the physical relocation of a child into a foster or prospective adoptive home.
Post-natal: occuring after birth, as opposed to prenatal, which occurs before it.
Private Adoption: any adoption arranged through a privately-funded licensed agency or licensee.
Private Adoption Agency: any non-government agency licensed by the province that arrange adoptions.
Public Adoption: any adoption arranged through a publicly funded ministry or agency.
Public Adoption Agency: government agency that arranges adoptions.
Sibling Groups: two or more family members who are available for adoption together.
Special Needs Child: child who may be physically, mentally and emotionally challenged. Also refers to older children, sibling groups, children of a different race or who may have been exposed to drugs or alcohol.
Waiting Children: children in foster care or who are available for adoption.

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