CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The province has introduced long-awaited reforms that will allow adoption records to be unsealed.
The amendments to the Adoption Act were introduced by Social Development and Housing Minister Ernie Hudson on Tuesday afternoon. The legislation would allow adoption records to be open up by default, but both parents and children will be given an option of filing a veto on disclosure of their identity.
However, current adoption records will not be opened before Jan. 31, 2021.
A review of the Adoption Act began under the previous Liberal government.
"All adoption records will be considered open unless the birth parent or the adoptee file a veto," Hudson said in an interview.
Adoptees over the age of 18 or birth parents will be able to request access to adoption records under the new legislation.
Adoptees and birth parents will also have the option of filing a "contact preference" which allows the individual to state whether or not they wish to be contacted. The contact preference may or may not also list contact information.
Currently, only information that does not identify individuals can be made available to either birth parents or adopted children unless both consent.
The open adoption records will be phased-in over a year. Beginning on Jan. 31, 2020, adoptees and birth parents will be able to file disclosure vetos or contact preferences.
The disclosure veto would continue to bar access to the identity of either the adoptee or birth parent until one year after their death.
For those that do not file disclosure vetos, adoption records will not be unsealed before Jan. 31, 2021.
Adoptions that take place after Jan. 31, 2020 will be open by default, with no provisions allowing a disclosure veto.
The issue of vetos is controversial amongst those involved in the adoption debate.
Hudson faced questions from his Progressive Conservative colleague Cory Deagle in the spring sitting of the legislature. Deagle had urged Hudson not to allow a veto option.
Others have publicly stated they would prefer a veto option, to allow adoptees or birth parents a choice of whether they can be contacted.
In the end, Hudson suggested litigation in Ontario may have played a role in the inclusion of a veto provision in the legislation.
“When the province of Ontario - when they put in their adoption act, they did not include a veto. That was challenged in court," Hudson said.
"We want to provide that openness and transparency of the adoption records as much as possible, realizing that there has to be the opportunity for birth parents and adoptees, prior to the time of Jan. 31, 2020, that they do have that option open to them."
