Making family and choosing kinship ties: inclusion of lesbian and gay couples in Canadian adoption legislation
Date
2000
Authors
Greatheart, Garth
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Abstract
This study critically examines Canadian adoption legislation for the inclusion of gay and lesbian couples in four specific eligibility criteria: who can adopt, who must consent, what is the effect of the adoption order, and what are the best interests of the child. A fifth criteria is added to ascertain if any statutes make a specific reference to sexual orientation either forbidding or allowing lesbians and gay men to adopt children.
A cross-country survey of both provincial and territorial adoption statutes reveals many commonalities, differences and some exceptions. The exceptions expose the use of neutral and non-specific language as the avenue through which gay and lesbian couples are included. One of these exceptions is the British Columbia Adoption Act 1996.
The examination of the 1996 BC Adoption Act reveals the function and intention of homogenized inclusion (inclusion through neutral and non-specific language). Four critical information sources between 1994 and 1996 are examined to illustrate this new concept: the recommendations contained in the 1994 Lord Report, the parliamentary debate conducted in June 1995, the Ministry For Children and Families public adoption newsletters and the Adoption Homestudy Assessment Guidelines (1997). These findings reveal that while the use of neutral and non-specific language may not overtly exclude gay and lesbian couples from the right to adopt, the use of homogenized inclusion--as a political strategy--effectively facilitates compliance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms while marginalizing gay and lesbian couples further and fragmenting our communities internally.