2005
In 2005 Marlilyn Churley MPP (NDP) spoke about the rights of illegitimate children. Before she spoke...
Hon. Ms. Pupatello: It's "Minister" to you, Norm. Don't be so sexist in here; use my proper title.
Mr. Sterling: There's the old sexist card. Go ahead.
Later...
"From the time of the Adoption Act of 1927 and during the intervening years up to 1979, adoption records were sealed and complete secrecy was secured. In those years, a birth mother often left the family home or city to conceal her identity and pretend that the birth had never taken place. If a child was born out of wedlock, it was assumed that the label of illegitimacy would damage the child permanently. Single mothers, even more than is the case today, had poor prospects of self-sufficiency or family or societal support. Poor children were thought to have prospects of a better life if removed from poverty and placed with parents, who could provide both material benefits and a more wholesome family life. The third constituency in the adoption triangle, the adoptive parents, were also subject to a social stigma arising from a presumption of infertility. As a result, in many cases, adoptive couples went to great lengths to pretend that the adopted child was their own, and secrecy was considered to be in the best interests of all concerned."
That's what this movie is all about. Fortunately, we've moved on from those days when both illegitimate children and infertility were considered a shameful thing that had to be hidden.
View full text for:
1. Session: 38:2 Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2005
2. Session: 33:1 Date: Thursday, November 07, 1985
3. Session: 31:1 Date: Tuesday, November 01, 1977
4. Session: 31:1 Date: Tuesday, October 18, 1977
5. Session: 31:1 Date: Wednesday, July 06, 1977
Not much later .. our Governer General did his last work for McGuinty, proclaiming:
"Families are our future. Strong families build strong communities and a prosperous Ontario." A decade ago, the government was desirous of seizing many more illegitimate children at birth from poor single mothers (based on CAS research) but needed to pave the way for that through easier adoption. See here:
"As part of their responsibility for child welfare services, children’s aid societies should collaborate closely with the provincial adoption agency and provide transparent concurrent permanency planning, including planning for adoption from the point of early contact with a child in care."
Illegitimate children hadn't been mentioned in the legislature since 1985. Here's what was said about them then (the debate topic was MISSING CHILDREN):
A famous study in Britain by Rene Spitz compared a group of illegitimate children looked after by their mothers in an ill-equipped, lower-class home with a minimum of facilities and very few resources with an otherwise comparable group of illegitimate children separated from their biological mothers pending adoption and placed in a well-staffed, well funded facility with the best in modern institutional care.
The infants looked after by their mothers, with few amenities and with impoverished resources, thrived on later measurements of emotional, physical and intellectual growth. The group provided with the best in modern institutional care in an institutional setting where no close bonding with any parenting figure was possible developed poorly and showed irreversible damage on all measures of personal development. - Mr. Henderson
So where are we in this decade of Canada's history? Adoption and Early Apprehension of illegitimate children government's preferred way to deal with the "problem" of single parent families.
"From the time of the Adoption Act of 1927 and during the intervening years up to 1979, adoption records were sealed and complete secrecy was secured. In those years, a birth mother often left the family home or city to conceal her identity and pretend that the birth had never taken place. If a child was born out of wedlock, it was assumed that the label of illegitimacy would damage the child permanently. Single mothers, even more than is the case today, had poor prospects of self-sufficiency or family or societal support. Poor children were thought to have prospects of a better life if removed from poverty and placed with parents, who could provide both material benefits and a more wholesome family life. The third constituency in the adoption triangle, the adoptive parents, were also subject to a social stigma arising from a presumption of infertility. As a result, in many cases, adoptive couples went to great lengths to pretend that the adopted child was their own, and secrecy was considered to be in the best interests of all concerned."
That's what this movie is all about. Fortunately, we've moved on from those days when both illegitimate children and infertility were considered a shameful thing that had to be hidden.
House Hansard - Search Results
Search Results 1 to 5 of 5 matching the query: "(contents 'illegitimate children')"View full text for:
1. Session: 38:2 Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2005
2. Session: 33:1 Date: Thursday, November 07, 1985
3. Session: 31:1 Date: Tuesday, November 01, 1977
4. Session: 31:1 Date: Tuesday, October 18, 1977
5. Session: 31:1 Date: Wednesday, July 06, 1977
Not much later .. our Governer General did his last work for McGuinty, proclaiming:
"Families are our future. Strong families build strong communities and a prosperous Ontario." A decade ago, the government was desirous of seizing many more illegitimate children at birth from poor single mothers (based on CAS research) but needed to pave the way for that through easier adoption. See here:
"As part of their responsibility for child welfare services, children’s aid societies should collaborate closely with the provincial adoption agency and provide transparent concurrent permanency planning, including planning for adoption from the point of early contact with a child in care."
Illegitimate children hadn't been mentioned in the legislature since 1985. Here's what was said about them then (the debate topic was MISSING CHILDREN):
A famous study in Britain by Rene Spitz compared a group of illegitimate children looked after by their mothers in an ill-equipped, lower-class home with a minimum of facilities and very few resources with an otherwise comparable group of illegitimate children separated from their biological mothers pending adoption and placed in a well-staffed, well funded facility with the best in modern institutional care.
The infants looked after by their mothers, with few amenities and with impoverished resources, thrived on later measurements of emotional, physical and intellectual growth. The group provided with the best in modern institutional care in an institutional setting where no close bonding with any parenting figure was possible developed poorly and showed irreversible damage on all measures of personal development. - Mr. Henderson
So where are we in this decade of Canada's history? Adoption and Early Apprehension of illegitimate children government's preferred way to deal with the "problem" of single parent families.
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