Health and
Social Services

Adoption

Adoption provides permanent families to children whose birth families cannot care for them for any number of reasons. Adoption is a lifelong experience that affects adopted children and adults, and birth and adoptive families. The Department of Health and Social Services (HSS) aims to provide every child available for adoption with a stable and secure permanent home.

HSS is committed to supporting adoptions in Nunavut that reflect Inuit traditions. Our main concern is the child’s best interest.

Director of Adoptions

The Director of Adoptions is appointed by the Minister of Health and Social Services. The Director is responsible for developing and managing the adoption program and for making sure that all adoption laws are followed. The Director also deals with other federal, provincial and territorial government divisions.

The Director of Adoptions appoints social workers as adoptions workers. These appointed adoptions workers help children find homes, and they help make sure that children are placed in homes that are safe.

Types of Adoption

There are four main kinds of adoption in Nunavut:

  • Aboriginal Custom Adoption
  • Private Adoption
  • Public Adoption
  • International Adoption
Aboriginal Custom Adoption

Custom adoptions in Nunavut are based on Inuit tradition where one family privately places their child with another family in the community. This type of adoption is the most common in Nunavut. Custom adoption is seen as a way to keep Inuit children in their communities and to keep their sense of identity and traditions.

Private Adoption

Private adoptions are arranged between a child’s birth parents and adoptive parents. There are no private adoption agencies in Nunavut. Birth parents and adoptive parents must arrange the adoption with the help of lawyers and HSS. All adoptions must follow the rules set out in Nunavut’s Adoption Act.

Public Adoption

In Nunavut, public adoptions are conducted through HSS. Public adoptions are arranged for children who are in the permanent care of the Director. Children are placed in the Director's care when the courts have decided that their biological parents are unable to care for them because of abuse, neglect, or other reasons. The children remain in the care of the HSS and live in foster homes until an adoptive family can be found.

International Adoption

In Nunavut, HSS oversees all adoptions in the territory. There are no private adoption agencies in Nunavut. Families hoping to adopt a child from another country must work through an adoption agency from a southern province.

Nunavut is a partner in the Hague Convention and follows its laws and guides for adoption practices. If a family in Nunavut adopts from a country where the convention is not followed, the same principles and practices listed in the Hague Convention are followed wherever possible.

HSS will assist families with their home studies and international adoption placements once the child joins the family in Nunavut.