Adoption Information

• Once approved, you are placed on Manitoba’s Central Adoption Registry to be matched with a child who is available for adoption

• If you are matched with a child, you will be provided with all non-identifying information about the child (medical, background, etc.)

• If you decide to proceed, pre-placement visits will occur so that you and the child can get to know each other before placement occurs

  Please note: Being approved for adoption does not guarantee the placement of a child. Adoption workers act in the best interest of the child and are searching for the best and most suitable homes for the child (e.g. culturally appropriate, able to meet the child’s needs, etc.) rather than finding a child for the adoptive family.

After placement occurs, there is a six to 12-month period before the adoption is legalized. Your adoption worker will continue to work with you to help everyone adjust and deal with any issues that may arise.

Once it is determined that the adoption placement is secure, the agency applies to the court for an Order of Adoption on your behalf (you do not have to attend court). Once the Order of Adoption is granted, the child is legally considered as if born to you.

Please contact your local child and family service agency or service region for more information.

Manitoba’s post-adoption registry allows those who have been involved in an adoption that was granted in Manitoba to search for family members.

Searches can be done on behalf of anyone entitled to register, subject to any disclosure or contact vetoes and/or contact preferences on file. Searches for any person under 18 years of age are not permitted.

Searches are conducted by the Department of Families.

For more information, visit the province of Manitoba’s Post-Adoption Registry page.

Adoptees and birth parents can apply to find out more about their birth parents or adopted children. Both parties can apply to get access to these records through the Manitoba Post-Adoption Registry.

Adoptees who are 18 and older can request pre-adoption birth registry information. Birth parents can apply for the child’s substituted registration of birth.

For more information, please see the government of Manitoba’s Open Birth Records Related to Adoption page.

Wendy’s Wonderful Kids is making a difference for thousands of children up for adoption—one child at a time. The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption awards grants to public and private adoption agencies to hire adoption professionals who implement proactive, child-focused recruitment programs targeted exclusively on moving North America’s longest-waiting children from foster care into adoptive families. The General Child and Family Services Authority received a grant in 2013 from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to bring children one step closer to finding homes. Manitoba is the fifth province to be awarded this grant.

Through its partnership with the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the General Authority currently has one recruiter working to find “forever families” for children.

Research from a five-year evaluation of Wendy’s Wonderful Kids shows that children referred to the program are up to three times more likely to get adopted.

Our Recruiters
These professionals, known as Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters, work on caseloads of children the system has forgotten, ensuring they have the time and resources to give each child as much attention as he or she deserves. These recruiters employ aggressive practices and proven tactics focused on finding the best home for a child through the starting points of familiar circles of family, friends and neighbors, and then reaching out to the communities in which they live.

Wendy’s Wonderful Kids has recruiters working for children throughout the U.S. and Canada. The program has helped thousands of children get adopted by their forever families.

Our Children
The children served by the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program are typically those who have been waiting the longest for an adoptive family and home. By the time they are referred to a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter, nearly 70 per cent are older than age eight, 30 per cent have had six or more placements, and 50 per cent have been in foster care more than four years. Some have never had a plan of adoption and have simply been on a track to age out of foster care at age 18 or 21 without the security and love of a permanent family.

For more information, please contact the General Authority Agencies or contact Angela Marshall at the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption Canada.