A month after the entry into force of new provisions allowing adopted Quebecers to know their sociobiological origins, approximately 2,500 people have taken steps, according to data collected by The duty.
“All adoptees want to know where they come from,” says Monelle Lavoie, who first applied when she was about 30. Now in her 60s, the woman had marked June 8 on her calendar, the date the new provisions would come into effect.
Generally, service centres that process requests across Quebec received approximately 10 times more requests during the month of June 2024 than the monthly average for 2023. Only two establishments were unable to provide us with their data.
For meme Lavoie, the desire to know her origins is stronger than anything. “I waited, I can still wait,” says the woman who received an acknowledgement of receipt two days after her request, on June 10. Medical reasons also add to her apprehension of June 8. “When you’re 30 or 40, you want to know if there are any diseases in your family. That was confidential.”
Quebec expects to receive 30,000 to 70,000 applications over the next two years. The Ministry of Health and Social Services then predicts “a gradual decrease in the number of applications.”
The increase in applications observed in June is already likely to slow down in the coming months, because the majority of people wishing to submit an application did so as early as possible in order to obtain a quick response. The Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre (CIUSSS) of Estrie says it is already observing “a slowdown in the reception of applications.”
Daniel Coulombe is one of those who rushed to apply: he waited until midnight on June 8 in the hope of being among the first to apply. He is seeking to know the identity of his paternal grandparents, his father having been adopted. His application is possible thanks to a new provision in the law, which allows children of adopted people to seek to know the identity of their grandparents in place of a deceased parent.
The man has little hope of finding his living grandparents, but he still hopes to find members of his biological family. “It would allow me to find my father a little, if he has brothers or sisters.”
Having started his own research in 2019, he turned to the private platform Ancestry to find his origins using his DNA. Research at his own expense that was unsuccessful, because he “came across the wrong family”. “We are still good friends with that family,” he says, but he definitely does not want to make another mistake like that.
The new provisions still allow parents of adopted people to refuse reunion attempts. “I will try to get in touch with [les membres de ma famille biologique]but if they don’t want to, I’m not going to force it,” explains Mr. Coulombe.
Variable delays
Like Monelle Lavoie, Daniel Coulombe received an acknowledgement of receipt quickly. However, the time it takes to obtain information can be long, because each request is complex and requires a lot of research. For these same reasons, the Ministry of Health and Social Services therefore indicates that it is impossible to estimate the average time it takes to obtain a response.
In the Laurentians, the Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) which processes requests for the region indicated to the Duty aim for “a period of approximately 90 days to process a request”. In Bas-Saint-Laurent, the local CISSS states that in 2023, requests were settled on average in 110 days.
Applications are usually processed in the order in which they are received, but certain criteria may affect their priority. Applications with medical implications “take precedence over others in the analysis,” the ministry explains. Then, applications that have been pending processing for more than 12 months, those from people over 69 years old and those from adopted minors are prioritized.
To address the increase in requests, some facilities have provided training in advance to employees who process requests. In general, the centers concerned have hired or assigned more people to the task. Telephone lines dedicated solely to responding to requests for sociobiological history research and the digitization of documents are also part of the measures taken in some places.
Caroline Fortin, president of the Retrouvailles Movement, an organization whose mission is to help those who wish to find their biological family, says she is satisfied with the changes implemented by Quebec, even if there are still “some adjustments to be made.”