This free digital guide explains adopting through the Adopt BC Kids program, intercountry adoption, local infant adoption, and other forms of permanency, including guardianship, custom adoption, and relative adoption.
You’re probably here because you’re thinking about adopting. Maybe you’ve come to adoption through unforeseen circumstances or maybe you’ve always known that adoption would be a part of your journey. Whatever your reason, we’re glad you’re here, and we certainly hope that this resource can be a helpful guide as you begin to navigate your journey.
Adoption is the legal transfer of ongoing parental responsibilities from one family to another. When a child or youth is adopted, they become a part of a new family. The child has all the emotional, social, legal, and familial benefits of having a permanent family. There are many different types of adoption in BC, including adoption from foster care, local agency adoption, international adoption, Indigenous custom adoption, relative & step-parent adoption, and adult adoption.
In addition to adoption, there are other ways to create safe, loving families for kids who need them. Permanency is an umbrella term for the myriad of ways of creating safe, permanent, loving families for kids who need them. Permanency includes guardianship, kinship care, moral adoption, and Indigenous custom adoptions. Sometimes these options are better fits for legal, cultural, or personal reasons. If you feel like adoption is not the right choice for your situation, you may consider exploring another form of permanency.
While this guide will primarily focus on adoption, the Belonging Network family support team can help with questions regarding alternative forms of permanency.
