Truth be told our children and youth need much more than an additional 15-week attachment leave, but by delivering this attachment leave, the Government of Canada would be standing up for families who are supporting their children and youth's needs when they join their family through adoption, kinship, or customary care. 

Kids and teens deserve enough time to build these new and complex attachments. 35 weeks is simply not enough time for a youth like me to feel comfortable with an entirely different family, let alone build trust with these unknown parental figures.

There are certainly a lot of complexities in adoption which can and probably should be considered, but ultimately doesn’t every child deserve the same care and opportunity to form attachments in their first year?

Our youngest daughter started her life with us by crying the entire hour-long drive home.

« Les crises de colère de notre fille ont été sans relâche pendant les six premiers mois d’école. Simplement repenser à tous ces pleurs et hurlements me fait toujours autant chavirer le cœur. »

« Notre aînée se plaignait à nous qu’elle allait “manquer de temps” parce qu’elle avait été trimballée de foyer d’accueil en foyer d’accueil pendant sept ans et qu’elle avait déjà onze ans en arrivant chez nous. »

« Dès que ma fille a commencé l’école, elle avait besoin de mon attention tous les jours. Toutes les occasions étaient bonnes pour me sauter sur les genoux. »

Our elder daughter laments to us that she is “running out of time,” because she was in-and-out of foster care for seven years and didn’t come home with us until she was eleven.

Every game of tag, every goofy joke—even the arguments about whether he needed to wear his coat—were all small steps to deepening our attachment.

With no EI benefits, I’ll be able to take about three months off at home with my child.

My daughter craved my attention daily, as soon as she started school. She’d jump in my lap at every opportunity.

My children are still struggling to get to know a stranger they now call Mom.

I was only eligible for 35 weeks of parental leave, even though we adopted three children from foster care over a two-year period.

When my son says “cuddle,” everything else stops, so he knows that love, security and family come before everything.

We use our time as currency, our hugs and kisses as money in the bank.

Our daughter tantrumed non-stop for the first six months of the school year. Just thinking about all the screaming and crying at that time still rocks me to my core.

I no longer felt alone, because I had all of these wonderful women by my side working to make changes too.

I had never heard of post-adoption depression and would think to myself: How can I feel sad when my dreams of being a mom have finally come true?

They had been neglected, witnessed domestic violence and possibly been abused. They showed many signs of being traumatized.

Our doctor likened our experience to PTSD, after we adopted our twins internationally.