Lending a Helping Hand

This section contains some resources we have used or have had recommended to us. If you've found a resource that has been helpful which you can recommend for this section, let us know!

Initiative in Trois-Rivières

A special limited search project began in 1998 in the Trois-Rivières area (funding: approx. $6000) whereby reunited adoptees and birth parents made birth family contacts on behalf of the agency (source: Patricia McCarron of PF NCR). This is a first for Québec. If your case falls under this jurisdiction, contact your agency immediately to see if you can still get involved!

This pilot project is the first post-adoption innovation in years in this province, so please, everyone, write letters and tell the government that you want this kind of project to happen in your area! Imagine somersaulting ahead by several years in your wait to make contact!

The Search Challenge

A search for a birth child, birth parent or sibling is always a big challenge. The process can take years, or, you may be one of the 'lucky' cases where events happen quickly. The search may be completed with a reunion, a denial, or news of a death; each search story is as unique as the circumstances of the individuals behind it. No matter what happens during your search, it's a good idea to gather as much information and emotional support for yourself as possible. You are not alone; many have faced the maze of lost facts and bureaucratic barriers, and found ways to get through. Many are willing to share their time and expertise.

Prepare yourself for anything that could possibly happen, because where adoption and reunion are concerned, anything can happen, and frequently does!

Then what happens if you reunite? Post-reunion relationships are complex, and full of surprises. Things often work out differently than you, or the other party may expect. This is also where the support of others who've been through similar processes becomes very important. Adoptive families can also benefit from support.You may wish to explore options such as engaging a third party to help you search, or act as communicator or counsellor to set up a first meeting between parties.

Adoption itself is full of old secrets, taboos, and thoughts and feelings locked away for years. Many of these are hard to articulate; the best thing you can give yourself and those linked to you biologically is a lot of time and compassion, while everyone sorts themselves out.

We recommend that you check out on-line adoption sites, newsgroups and our genealogy section, read search stories and books on adoption, join support groups, and build your own support system -- your search is going to consume a lot of your time and energy, and you'll need people to reach out to, even with friends or family support you.

Good luck, and good hunting!

On-Line Registries

Many on-line registries exist (see External Links), but PFMTL knows and relies on these free Canadian sites:

• Canadian Adoption Registry Inc. (Rick and Alice MacDonald) Free registry (cross-referenced with PFMTL database), Internet sources, good advice, reunion stories.
• CANADopt - Free registry (cross-referenced with PFMTL database), info, chat groups, etc. Great mailing list.
  

While NOT free to register, this Québec group has on-line search ads (in French) that you can browse for free:

• Mouvement Retrouvailles - only paid MR members can put search ads on-line. Information, bibliography, links. Many French Catholic members. French/en francais (English version under construction)
  

Libraries and Archives

• Québec National Archives (new location OPEN as of March 7, 2000 )

  Marriage and death registers up until 1972.

Archives Nationales du Quebec
535, avenue Viger Est
(corner Saint-Hubert)
Montréal, Que.
H2L 2P3
Phone: (514) 873-6000

• United Church Archives

  Used to be housed in Point St. Charles; contact United Church directly for more info on new location.

• Bibliothèque municipale de Montréal/Montréal Municipal Library, Main Branch

  Address: 1210 Sherbrooke St. East, Montréal (across from Parc Lafontaine)
  Phone: (514) 872-5923
  

  Genealogist's and searcher's goldmine. Most of collection is on microfilm, and to get access one must be a member (free for Montréalers, day passes available for out-of-towners, and $40.00/year for others-- i.e. West Island, Laval, etc.). Usage limited to 1 hour per person per machine, on a first-come, first-served basis. Follow-up to National Archives -- they have municipal and parish records of marriages and deaths from 1926 to 1992 ( plus: deaths for 1993-94 ), Lovell's directories from 1800's to 1979, and telephone directories past and present (i.e. major Canadian cities and more). Also records from the Atlantic provinces and some American states.

Paid Searches

Searches can almost always be done on your own, at the cost of your own time. However, if you run into a special problem, or have the money, you can hire someone to help.

While search and resource groups such as Parent Finders Montréal, the Mouvement Rétrouvailles and CANADopt provide a wealth of valuable information, insider experience, and cost far less, your search might lead you to consider hiring a private researcher, or, paying an administrative fee to the Québec social agency that handled your file (ATTENTION: many restrictions apply! Especially for anglophones who go through Batshaw! See below).

Genealogists and other independent paid researchers may be helpful, but make sure that they have experience searching in Québec! Get referrals from your local Parent Finders or post-adoption support group -- and check out references -- if your search takes you in this direction, you need a reputable, experienced specialist. Remember ,"caveat emptor" (let the buyer beware) -- avoid "professionals" who make big promises to the emotionally vulnerable... they're out there too. Contact a researcher directly for more information about their services, and fees.

Pay-per-search via your social agency in Québec is exhorbitant ($450.00), and available only to those whose names reach the top of the agency's waiting list. These waiting lists are of different duration -- a wait of several months to a decade is the norm (no joke). During your wait you can always call to inquire about your status, but they do respect the list. Exceptions may be made, however, if your birthmother is 70 years old or more. Contact the agency that handled your file (make sure it's the right agency!) to ensure that they offer the program.

Note to clients in Hull: Good news -- the program there was supposed to have been discontinued due to cutbacks in July 1998, but we've learned that it was extended, although we don't know for how long.

Note to clients in Trois-Rivières: a special program has being tested where volunteer adoptees and birth parents are working with the agencies to make contacts (see top of this section). Call your agency for more info!

Note to clients of Batshaw Youth and Family Centres (all agency-adopted anglophones of Montréal): if you have to ask for Batshaw services, or want to join any Batshaw waiting list, be prepared for a world of delay and shifting "policy". Their waiting list for the Pay-per-search program is so long that once you've filled out the official paperwork, you can expect up to a 7-10 year wait for results (see exception for older birthparents, above). In general, this incredible delay can be attributed to a lack of provincial funding for a smaller anglophone constituency. However, there's a strange discrepancy in policy between Batshaw and the 13 other French-language agencies in the province, which we at Parent Finders Montréal don't understand. Batshaw demands the full $450 up front for the program, non-refundable, whereas the others break it down according to the stages, and results of each stage. Everywhere else (i.e. the CJM), you pay per stage, such as if, at the first stage the birthparent (usually a b-mother) refuses contact, you pay only the $150 initial fee. How is it that this one agency seems to make up its own rules? Batshaw is also rumoured to be demanding that participants sign away their right to their non-identifying background information when they participate, if they have not already received it. BEWARE! If you agree to this, and your contact does not work out, or your birthparent is deceased, you will have nothing else to go on. There is often valuable information in your non-i.d.; you could be signing away information about birth siblings, or other birth relatives... or more.

Back to the program: for the $450.00, an agency sub-contracts a social worker to do the search (the $450 fee represents a portion of a larger fee, which is subsidized by the QC government). The worker then searches and matches your dossier with that of the person you're looking for (b-parent, b-child), and sends you the non-identifying background information in your file. They then contact the other party to find out if there is mutual desire for contact, or to try to obtain information (i.e medical history). Your agency will advise you on the time the process will take, and the exact services offered. Only in the cases where both an adoptee and birth parent have applied and a search is not necessary, is a reunion made in a much shorter time period. Social workers are required by law to keep names in the file confidential.

Sample breakdown of the $450 pay-per-search program (for Batshaw, see above note):

• $150 fee for localization, tracking down
• $180 fee paid in two installments for preparation, counseling prior to the reunion
• $120 fee for the reunion
  

If at the first stage the birthparent (usually a b-mother) refuses contact, social workers are not allowed to make a second contact, but a b-mother who changes her mind even years later may approach the agency to request another contact.

Good Advice: Remember how much time you've had while searching and Please give the person you're searching for some time to absorb the initial shock. Back off and allow them to contact you when They're Ready.

For more information on the legislative climate regarding post-adoption information in Québec, and to find out what you can do about it, please check out André Desaulniers' site, and the Adoptee Searcher's Handbook.

Any questions? You can always contact PFMTL for more information.

Independent Paid Searchers

We can't list them all, but here are a couple of independent researchers whose work we know, with experience in Québec:

• Jeannine McMullin

  Search Consultant (bilingual/bilingue)
  Based in New Brunswick, does Québec searches
  (506) 459-8903

• Joan Marshall

  SEARCHLINE
  63 Holborn Avenue
  Nepean, ON K2C 3H1
  (613) 825-1640
  National Capital Region, does Québec searches

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