Families whose dreams of adopting children overseas are in limbo after an Ontario-based agency went bankrupt are calling on the child services ministry to help them get the adoptions to go through.
About 400 families across Canada paid thousands of dollars to adopt children from Ethiopia, Ecuador, Zambia and Ghana. But those adoptions were halted when Kids Link International Adoption Agency - which operated as Imagine Adoption - based in Cambridge, Ont., and licensed by the Ontario government, posted a bankruptcy notice on its website on July 13.
Six representatives of the families met privately with officials of the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services yesterday in Toronto, seeking answers and help.
Christine Starr, chair of Families of Imagined Adoption, a group representing the families, told a news conference they asked ministry officials to work with families who had signed a retainer with Imagine Adoption, to help them get the children to Canada, no matter what stage they were at in the adoption process.
She said the families had also asked the ministry whether it would be willing to work with the bankruptcy trustee, BDO Dunwoody, to develop a transition plan. The plan would see the ministry hold Imagine Adoption's licence while it acted as an interim operational trustee until the non-profit international adoption agency could be restructured.
The group is to meet minister Deb Matthews Tuesday.