The wait goes on. You may notice I've updated the sidebar; instead of a countdown to June 1, it is now a count of days since June 1. We're out of triage... and into the waiting room!
The Ministry of Community and Social Services has said we should expect feedback in 6-8 weeks, i.e. between July 13 and July 27 if you sent in your Post-Adoption Birth Information form right away.
Earlier I had thought to myself that presumably some of that estimate is allowing for the time the original application spends in transit, so people in my situation with Post-Adoption Birth Information applicants left over from the two days the old law was functioning could probably expect a slightly earlier response.
However, I was disappointed by the realization that since the government said that people have until June 1 to file disclosure vetos, that June 1 must be a postmark date. So they couldn't really begin processing applications until all vetos postmarked June 1 or earlier had gotten in and been processed. (Of course, they could start, and just discard their work if it turns out there was a veto, but I'm not naïve enough to think that's how the civil service works!)
Starting mid-July, I will be checking the mail after work very faithfully!
Amidst all this waiting comes the news that Manitoba is considering opening its adoption records. As my Manitoban-born aunt might say, good on 'em. I feel a close kinship with the "friendly province": my (adoptive) father is from there and I have many happy memories of our summer pilgrimages to the family homestead.
More to the point, I think there is nothing more effective at reshaping public opinion on open adoption records than, well, taking steps on opening adoption records. Incrementalism can be an effective tool for social change. People who think the sky will fall are pleasantly surprised to discover that it didn't: hysterics are replaced with shrugs.
Rather curiously, in its press release of June 1, the Ontario government seems to believe that Manitoba's records are already open. The link the press release provides is to a Post-Adoption Registry operated by the Manitoba government, which on the face of it looks very similar to Ontario's Adoption Disclosure Register. In particular, the description clearly states "The Registry will not facilitate contact without the consent of all concerned."
Admittedly, there is apparently a lot more transparency for post-1999 adoptions in Manitoba than there is in Ontario, but retroactivity is the whole point here. I think that Ontario was probably just looking for support for its position and didn't closely examine Manitoba's situation, though it's funny that the two governments are citing each other as examples of progressiveness on adoption disclosure!
Okay, Ontario, BC, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador down; Manitoba coming. Next: open records for Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, and the territories. Saskatchewan would be an obvious next target: after Manitoba opens, it will be have both a neighbouring Conservative-led province and a neighbouring NDP-led province with opened records. It would be hard to argue against those precedents.
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