The children in our Waiting Children Program represent a wide range of special needs. Some of the children’s needs may be more minor, correctable, medical needs and others may be more complex. All of the children can benefit enormously from living in a family. The following are some examples of what are considered to be a special needs condition in Thailand:

• Cleft lip/cleft palate
• Missing digits and/or limbs
• Webbed digits
• Cardiovascular/congenital heart disease
• Hearing impairment
• Visual impairment
• Burns
• Hepatitis B
• Club foot
• Reactive Airway Disease
• HIV positive birth mother
• Children of incest
• Alcoholic or Substance Abuse by birth parents

Families would receive any medical history including MRI's or x-rays with the referral information that may be used to consult with your physician. Any surgery required can be completed prior to receiving your child (the orphanage would pay for this) or you could request to wait and have the surgery performed once home in Canada.

If you are open to adopting a child with special needs, this will have to be addressed in your application letter and your provincial approval letter.

The Provincial Social Services and the Department of Social Development and Welfare (DSDW) requires all families who participate in our Waiting Children Program to have identified in their homestudy that they want to adopt a child with special medical needs and the family must demonstrate the ability to support the child both financially and emotionally.

The family must also proceed through a screening process with The Children’s Bridge. Cathy Murphy, the Coordinator of the Waiting Children Program, will complete the screening process for each prospective family. Cathy can be reached at 613-226-2112 Ext. 6 or via e-mail at cathy.murphy@childrensbridge.com.

We encourage you to thoroughly research and specify what special need(s) you feel you could support within your family unit. It is important that you think about the specific needs of the child and be realistic about the needs your family can handle. Your application letter must clearly identify the special need(s). For example it would be too general to say that you would like to support a child with special needs under the age of two in Thailand. Instead, you must state clearly the specific needs you can support. A more specific example would state: “Our family could support a child with special needs who has a cleft lip or cleft palate between 12 months – 2 years of age.”

Each family applying to the Waiting Children Program will be expected to complete additional paperwork and explore the resources available to them within their community as it pertains to the special need(s) of the child they are proposing to adopt. If the appropriate resources are not accessible within your region it can affect the ability to qualify for our Waiting Children Program.

General Information:

• Adoption is finalized in Thailand in conjuncture with the Royal Thai Embassy in Canada.
• Open to all provinces except Quebec.

Considerations:

• The majority of the children are between 14 months and 5 years of age at time of referral to the Waiting Children Program.
• Health information is provided with each referral.
• A limited history since coming to the orphanage is provided.
• Adoption finalized in Thailand and Canada.
• Both boys and girls are waiting for families in this program, but families will wait longer if they request a girl.
• Preference will be given to childless couples or those with only 1 child in the home.

Requirements:

• Each family must complete a screening process with The Children's Bridge prior to proceeding.
• Minimum age 25 years and up to a maximum age of 50 (families over 45 should be prepared for a referral of a child between the ages of 2 and 5).
• No same sex or common law couples eligible.
• Open to single female applicants.
• Must be married for a minimum of 2 years and have no more than 2 previous marriages.
• Must have a minimum of high school education.
• Must be in excellent physical and emotional health – no exceptions.
• Must be 5 years cancer free.
• Cannot be notably overweight (no more than 30% of Body Mass Index (BMI)). Go to www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi to calculate your BMI.)
• Families must possess a stable financial portfolio.
• One of a couple must be a Canadian citizen and have no criminal record.
• No morticians may apply.
• The family must live in a large urban centre with access to appropriate resources to meet each child’s individual needs.

Process:

• Completion of home study and approval in province.
• Three post placement visits at two, four and six months are required with an Adoption Practitioner. Post placement reports are required for the Department of Social Development and Welfare (DSDW).
• Both parents must travel to Thailand to complete the adoption process.
• Stay in Thailand is approximately 2 – 3 weeks in duration.
• Both parents along with their child must travel to the Royal Thai Embassy in Ottawa to complete the process.
  

Timelines:

• Screening process completed by The Children’s Bridge.
• Completion of home study (average time 3 – 6 months) and approval in province (varies from 4 – 16 weeks).
• Dossier preparation takes approximately 6 – 8 weeks.
• Families receive their referral approximately 24 months after file is logged in at the DSDW.
• Families will receive an Invitation to Travel within 1 – 2 months after accepting referral.
• Travel to Thailand occurs approximately 6 weeks to 4 months after referral.