TORONTO - Ontario needs to overhaul an adoption system that saw less than 1 in 10 eligible children permanently placed with families last year and couples struggling to conceive should have access to publicly funded fertility treatments, an expert panel said Wednesday.
With one in six Ontario couples dealing with infertility, the panel recommended the Ontario Health Insurance Plan cover three cycles of in vitro treatments for women under 42. At around $10,000 per attempt, the cost is prohibitively expensive for many couples.
A centralized provincial agency is also needed to revamp an outdated adoption system which deters many couples from adopting, the panel concluded in its report entitled "Raising Expectations."
The savings from both those initiatives would be in the hundreds of millions, it said.
Melanie, who didn't want her last name used, and her husband have tried in vitro twice and put around $20,000 on their line of credit for the treatment.
They received news she was pregnant with twins, but she lost the babies only weeks later.
Melanie said when her mother found out Quebec began funding three cycles of in vitro treatment earlier this year she urged her daughter to move back to the province and try again.
"As much as I was painful and heartbroken through the process, if it was paid for, for sure I would do it again, if the government could help."
The panel's year-long study found that high costs of assisted reproduction services cause couples to seek out treatments that fertilize numerous embryos at once.
Multiple births cost the province millions of dollars a year from complicated and premature births, cesarean births and longer hospitalization periods in the early weeks of life.
Reducing multiple births could save the province $400 to $550 million in the next decade, the panel found.
After thousands of dollars spent on in vitro treatments instead of a mortgage and five years of trying to conceive, Danny Roth and his wife adopted their son five years ago.
"There are a raft of barriers that stand in way of people who wish to start families," said Roth, a member of the panel, adoptive father and "member of the infertile community."
Roth said the panel's proposed changes would go beyond financial savings, because people that deal with infertility and adoption find themselves isolated and stigmatized by the current system.
"I believe as a member of the infertile community, that with this report, I'm going to be able to hold my head high."
For the thousands of children considered Crown wards, a permanent home remains elusive. While there were nearly 10,000 Crown wards ready for placement last year, only 822 were placed in permanent homes.
Most of the children in the 53 Children's Aid societies in Ontario are over the age of two, and many of them have been traumatized, said the society's communications director, Marcelo Gomez.
"We need to change the philosophy, do a lot more public awareness for Ontarians to understand that adopting an older child is an option."
Melanie said she and her husband discussed adoption, but decided it would be even more difficult than fertilization treatments.
"Adoption is even more heartbreaking," she said. "If kids need parents, they shouldn't be waiting in the foster home for years."
She said she heard horror stories about the Ontario adoption system, in which friends have had to wait seven years to adopt.
Minister of Children and Youth Services Deb Matthews wouldn't say if the government would implement the report's recommendations, but called the current system unacceptable.
"When kids find that permanent stable family, they can do much better," Matthews said. "The more kids we can get into stable families, the better off we'll all be."
The current adoption system "is all over the place," said Gomez.
Currently there are three separate avenues for adoption in Ontario -- the Children's Aid societies, private adoption agencies, and international adoption.
The comprehensive screening process at CAS, which can take years, prompts some families to adopt internationally, said Noelle Burke, a clinical co-ordinator at Adopt Ontario, a program that promotes adopting locally.
"If everyone collaborated things would run smoother, there would be more resources for kids," Burke said.
The report recommended implementing a policy to subsidize parents who adopt children through the public system.
Gomez said while there is no uniform policy across the province for subsidies for adoptive families, a universal subsidy would encourage parents to adopt in Ontario.
Many of the kids in foster care require special assistance, which is costly for parents, Burke said.
The panel report said revamping the province's adoption system would alleviate provincial spending of $32,000 a year per child that is adopted.
Only two per cent of the provincial budget for child welfare services is allocated for placement.
"We believe that that modest two per cent can be placed in a central agency and do a much more co-ordinated job at placing more children in permanent homes," said David Johnston, chair of the panel.
