The minister of social supports and well-being says he hopes to double the rate of adoptions in Newfoundland and Labrador, and reduce the wait times to complete an adoption by several years.
Joedy Wall says government plans on significantly increasing the number of adoptions completed in Newfoundland and Labrador this year.
He says there are about 45 adoptions done every year, and they want to increase that to 90.
Wall says wait times to adopt a child will also be addressed.
He says currently, people are waiting between five and seven years to adopt – his goal is to get that down to three.
“There’s many things in this portfolio that weighs heavy on the heart, but I can certainly tell you when I’m given a photo of… a child being adopted by a family, it certainly does my heart good. The last one I received, the young man was 14, (he was) 14 and waited nine years to be adopted. That’s unacceptable. That will change under Premier Wakeham and under myself in this department. I can assure you of that.”
