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In the Northwest
Territories, adoptions occur under the Child
and Family Services Act, the Northwest Territories Adoption Act
and the Aboriginal Custom Adoption Recognition
Act.
The Northwest
Territories Adoption Act includes adoptions
of children living in Northwest Territories
and children from other provinces and countries.
Established in 1998, the Northwest Territories
Adoption Act is designed to ensure that potential
adoptive children are placed in safe homes.
Its objective is to promote the best interests
of the child being adopted and to provide a
means for establishing the child's legal status
within a family. A child's best interests include
finding an adoptive home that best meets the
child's mental, emotional and educational needs,
as well as the child's cultural heritage, linguistic
and spiritual needs. The Northwest Territories
Adoption Act is intended to protect the rights
of everyone involved in an adoption - the child,
the birth parents and the adoptive parents.
In the
Northwest Territories, there are several types
of adoption:
Departmental
Adoption (a.k.a. public adoption) is
a situation where the child being adopted is
in the permanent custody of the Director of
Child and Family Services. A birth parent may
willingly consent to an adoption or the courts
have determined that the parents are unable
to parent the child.
Private
Adoption: Private adoption is arranged
by birth parent(s) and adopting parent(s) themselves
as long as the requirements of the Northwest Territories Adoption
Act and the Regulations have been met.
Intercountry
or International Adoption: Intercountry
adoptions occur when the child being adopted
resides outside of Canada. These adoptions are
regulated by the Northwest Territories Adoption Act and the Intercountry
Adoption Act (Hague
Convention).
Aboriginal
Custom Adoption: Custom adoption is
a long-standing and accepted practice of child
placement in the aboriginal culture. Custom
adoption is an arrangement for care of children
between the birth parent(s) and the adoptive
parent(s) in accordance with aboriginal custom.
The arrangement is usually with relatives or
other people in the same community. Adoption
is deemed to have taken place at the time of
placement.
Inter-provincial
Adoption: Inter provincial adoptions
are child-in-care adoptions of other Provinces
or Territorial Directions. In these cases, both
the laws of the originating and receiving jurisdictions
apply, as does the Provincial/Territorial Protocol
on Children and Families moving between provinces
and Territories.
* Very
few northern children who are in the care of
the Director of Child and Family Services are
placed for adoption outside of the Northwest Territories. This
rarely occurs because the government recognizes
the children's unique northern cultural heritage
and wants to preserve it. Only when all resources
have been exhausted will consideration be given
to placement outside the territory.*
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