What is open adoption?

Updated March 16, 2024

Open adoption has been practised successfully all over North America for decades.
​It is perfectly legal, including in Quebec.

With open adoption, the biological parents, the child and the adopting party have a lifelong relationship. The child has always known they are adopted, that they have been entrusted out of love and not rejection or abandonment. There is no secret and there is no shame. 

After birth, the biological parent and the adopting party sign a communication agreement in which they set contact details: place, duration, frequency, modality (directly, in person, or indirectly, through calls, letters or photos.)

As long as the biological mother is thoroughly convinced of the impossibility for her to assume responsibility for the child, financially, physically, psychologically or otherwise, then she is well disposed to understand that once the child is entrusted through open adoption, she can no longer, and must no longer, attempt to exercise  any parental authority whatsoever. She has absolutely no say concerning the raising of the child. For as long as she respects this commitment, the adopting party can continue letting her benefit from this agreement. Otherwise, the adoptive party will be justified in closing the door and putting an end to the agreement.

HOW TO PROCEED FOR OPEN ADOPTION IN QUEBEC

You will need to wait for the birth of the child to undertake the necessary steps. The birth will need to be registered with the Registrar of Civil Status (the hospital will take of this through an attestation of birth, and, if the birth did not take place in a health installation, you must make a declaration of birth yourself, with thirty days). The child will need to have a residential address in Quebec.
 
Who can one entrust one’s new-born to through open adoption?

A relative; or
A person one chooses among files proposed by Child protection Services.
 
ADOPTION BY A RELATIVE 

Adoption by a relative is done through the Newborn adoption service of the Centre jeunesse ("Youth Centre") of your region (“Child Protection Services”, “Direction de la protection de la jeunesse”).
 
To find the adoption service of your regional health authority (CISSS or CIUSSS), visit :
https://www.quebec.ca/en/family-and-support-for-individuals/pregnancy-parenthood/adoption/adoption-in-quebec

Tell them that you want to open a file to entrust voluntarily your newborn for adoption by a relative through the “Regular bank” (and not the “Mixed Bank”) because your child is at risk of negligence if you keep him or her (you are not able to be a parent and you do not want to take on this responsibility in the future for this child).
 
You will then offer a “Special consent” (and not a “General consent”). Minors can offer this consent, and the consent of the father is not required if it determined that circumstances do not allow for it (e. g. uncertain or disavowed paternity).
 
Tell them that you wish to do an open adoption: you wish to have continued contacts with the child and the adopting party. You will then be presented a number of files of potential adoptive parties and you will choose among them. A communication agreement will be convened and signed by the two parties.
 
SUPPLETIVE TUTORSHIP
 
Instead of adoption if you desire an arrangement that is less definitive, you can open a file for “Suppletive tutorship”, i. e., the delegating to a relative, or sharing with them, the totality of your legal tutorship and parental authority, with the possibility of reversing this agreement in the future.
 
Suppletive tutorship is described in the new clause 199.1 of the Quebec Civil Code as follows: “The father or mother of a minor child can designate a person to whom they delegate, or with whom they share, their legal tutorship and parental authority, when it is impossible for them to exercise them fully. Only the partner, an ascendant of the child or a collateral relative of the child up to the third degree, or a partner of this ascendant or parent, can in this way be designated tutor”.
 
As explained on the Web site of the Quebec Public Curator, the biological parent can file a request wit the Quebec Superior Court through the tribunal of the judicial district where the child resides. The biological parent can also hire a lawyer or a notary to do this (legal aid is always an option). TO FIND YOUR LEGAL AID OFFICE:
​At https://sante.gouv.qc.ca/en/repertoire-ressources/, type « legal aid » in the search box and find your office among the 65 given.

At the following link:
https://www.justice.gouv.qc.ca/en/join-us/recherche-dun-district/liste-des-municipalites-et-des-communautes-autochtones-par-district-judiciaire, you can determine the judicial district under which the municipality of residence of the child falls, and the “palais de justice” (“courthouse”) serving this judicial district. Under “Youth”, click on “Youth Division” (“Chambre de la jeunesse”), and note the phone number given.


ADOPTION BY A PERSON PROPOSED BY CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES

Adoption by a person proposed by the workers is exactly the same as for adoption by a relative, except for the type of consent you want to give: It is not « Special » but rather « General », because the adoptive party will come from a bank of files in the possession of Child protection services (“DPJ”).

CRISIS PREGNANCY SUPPORT RESOURCES (ACCESSIBLE JUST AS MUCH TO PERSONS WHO WILL BE ENTRUSTING THEIR NEWBORN THROUGH ADOPTION)
 
For the directories of crisis pregnancy support resources in the Outaouais region (Quebec and Ontario sides) and in the Montreal and Quebec City regions, as well as in Canada in general, see www.soutiengrossesse.org/pregnancy-support.html.
 
REFERENCES
 
Lavallée Report (only available in French, Quebec Adoption Working Group, 2007:
https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/46280, pages 

p. 16 : recommandation d’accueillir positivement le consentement parental volontaire à l’adoption ;
pp. 33-35 : description de l’adoption ouverte, semi-ouverte ou confidentielle/fermée ;
p. 36 : principaux arguments en faveur de l’adoption ouverte ;
p. 39 : recommandation de l’adoption ouverte ;
pp. 40-43 : modalités de l’adoption ouverte ;
pp. 44-47 : pratiques existantes en adoption ouverte au sein du gouvernement du Québec ;
pp. 47-49 : recommandations concernant l’adoption ouverte. 

In Quebec, adoption falls under the following laws:
 
Civil Code : clauses 523-612 accessible at https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/cs/CCQ-1991/20200831 
Youth Protection Act, accessible at https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/cs/P-34.1  
​See the following clauses :
 
Article 32 Adoption ouverte ou semi-ouverte/entente de communication
 
Remplace l’article 579 du Code criminel comme suit : « Une entente visant à faciliter l’échange de renseignements ou des relations interpersonnelles peut être conclue, par écrit, entre l’adoptant et des membres de la famille d’origine ».
 
Article 71.3.4 Entente de communication
 
Stipule que le Directeur de la protection de la jeunesse doit offrir des services d’accompagnement à l’établissement d’une entente de communication, si demandée par les parties, avant que l’ordonnance de placement ne soit prononcée, et que le Directeur agit comme intermédiaire si l’entente est semi-ouverte (ne vise que l’échange de renseignements et non pas des relations interpersonnelles directes).
 
Article 10 Tutelle supplétive
 
Ajoute, au Code civil, l’article 199.1 selon lequel le père ou la mère d’un enfant mineur peuvent désigner un tuteur à qui les charges de tuteur légal et de titulaire de l’autorité parentale seront déléguées ou avec qui celles-ci seront partagées, et que le tuteur doit avoir un lien de parenté avec le parent d’origine.
 
SAUF QUE, les articles 606 et 607 du Code civil laissent entendre que s’il n’y a pas de prononcé de déchéance de l’autorité parentale, il peut y avoir seulement retrait d’un attribut de l’autorité parentale, et que la personne désignée par Le Directeur de la protection de la jeunesse pour exercer seulement un attribut de l’autorité parentale (p. ex. alimentation, hébergement) n’est pas nécessairement désignée comme « tuteur ». Si la personne n’est pas tuteur, alors est-elle assujettie à l’obligation du lien de parenté qui s’applique aux tuteurs ? 
 
Article 14, sous « DE LA FILIATION PAR ADOPTION »
 
Ajoute, au Code civil, l’article 544 selon lequel une adoption peut être assortie, ou pas, d’une reconnaissance des liens préexistants de filiation.
 
Article 35, retrouvailles
 
Remplace l’article 583 du Code civil et permet les retrouvailles en l’absence d’un « refus à la communication » et/ou d’un « refus au contact » inscrit(s) au dossier par l’une ou l’autre partie.
  

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