(Oct. 22, 2010) Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has released Canada's international adoption statistics for 2009.
In the ups and downs of intercountry adoption we reached a new high in 2009: 2,122 children from abroad found adoptive homes in Canada.
Each year Canada typically welcomes about 2,000 children adopted from other countries. Here is a retrospective:
1995: 2,010 2003: 2,180
1996: 2,061 2004: 1,955
1997: 1,800 2005: 1,871
1998: 2,222 2006: 1,535
1999: 2,019 2007: 1,713
2000: 1,866 2008: 1,915
2001: 1,874 2009: 2,122
2002: 1,926
The actual numbers vary year-to-year as conditions change in the source countries. We saw a peak in 1998 of 2,222, and another in 2003 of 2,180. The 2009 high of 2,122 is owing to increases in the number of children adopted from China, Russia, U.S. and Vietnam. This table shows the top 14 countries; CIC reported on 130 countries in all.
International Adoptions to Canada
Top 14 countries, 2008 and 2009
| 2008 | 2009 | |
| China | 431 | 451 |
| U.S. | 182 | 253 |
| Ethiopia | 187 | 170 |
| Vietnam | 111 | 159 |
| Haiti | 147 | 141 |
| Russia | 91 | 121 |
| South Korea | 98 | 93 |
| Philippines | 118 | 86 |
| Ukraine | 57 | 65 |
| India | 54 | 59 |
| Kazakhstan | 48 | 56 |
| Colombia | 53 | 41 |
| South Africa | 18 | 37 |
| Jamaica | 22 | 30 |
| All countries | 1,915 | 2,122 |
Provincial breakdown
Ontario and Quebec continued to be the two leading destination provinces for international adoptions. In 2009 Ontario received 597 children from abroad, including 117 from China.
Quebec was second, becoming home for 572 children from abroad, but first in the country for welcoming Chinese children: 170 in 2009.
Third place British Columbia welcomed 347 international adoptees. Alberta became home to 142 children from abroad. Both provinces made the United States their first choice as a source for internationally adopted children, rather than China.
Here is the breakdown by province of the top 14 countries in 2009. (Family Helper has reports for previous years.)
International Adoptions to Canada
Top 14 countries in 2009, by province
| AB | BC | MB | NB | NL | NS | NT | ON | PE | QC | SK | |
| China | 19 | 45 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 117 | 7 | 170 | 5 | |
| U.S. | 34 | 81 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 35 | 6 | 10 | |||
| Ethiopia | 31 | 39 | 25 | 6 | 1 | 40 | 2 | 13 | |||
| Vietnam | 34 | 39 | 70 | 1 | |||||||
| Haiti | 20 | 21 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 78 | |||||
| Russia | 1 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 78 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||
| South Korea | 11 | 33 | 42 | ||||||||
| Philippines | 20 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 20 | 7 | |||||
| Ukraine | 1 | 3 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 31 | |||||
| India | 6 | 20 | 24 | 2 | |||||||
| Kazakhstan | 3 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 22 | 1 | |||||
| Colombia | 1 | 1 | 35 | ||||||||
| South Africa | 3 | 28 | 3 | ||||||||
| Jamaica | 20 | ||||||||||
| All countries | 142 | 347 | 66 | 36 | 4 | 39 | 1 | 597 | 9 | 572 | 47 |
Source: Citizenship & Immigration Canada, RDM, Facts and Figures 2009. Received Oct. 7 and 14, 2010 by Adoption Council of Canada. Summations by Robin Hilborn, editor of Family Helper, www.familyhelper.net.
Two channels to enter Canada
A child adopted from a foreign country enters Canada through one of two channels: the citizenship process (which makes the child a Canadian citizen) or the immigration process (which makes the child a permanent resident). CIC has an explanation of the two processes.
CIC tracks international adoption numbers separately, reporting them as "New Citizens under Section 5.1 of the Citizenship Act" ("5.1 Grants") or as "Permanent Residents". In 2009, 1,308 intercountry adoptions took the citizenship route, while 814 adoptions took the permanent resident route, for a total of 2,122.
________________________________________
You may reproduce this item with the credit:
"From Family Helper, www.familyhelper.net"
FERTILITY
ADOPTION
POST-ADOPTION
FAMILY TREE