Alberta's "Internet adoptions"

Alberta's new adoption site is now under fire because some foster parents were not informed that their kids were up for adoption. Or that the kids' pictures, medical and family histories were placed online. (There were some interesting comments about this on MeFi as well.)

Sadly, the family found out about it in the worst possible way:

"These kids have a right to know, and finding out on the playground isn't the way to do it," the woman told Edmonton's A-Channel. "This really shakes everything up. All the work that we have done to make these kids feel safe and secure has been pulled out from under them."

Children's Minister Iris Evans calls the incident a breach of protocol and will find out why the children weren't notified. She says she's concerned by the reports.

That's a shame, really (and not surprising--Alberta Children's Services is known for its cracks). But even though the execution is subpar, the initiative is worthwhile.

According to this Globe and Mail story, "only 116 of Alberta's more than 4,700 children who are permanent wards of the province were adopted last year."

At that rate only two of the children profiled on the site will be adopted this year. The province hopes the adoption rate will double as result of the site, which means four kids might be adopted. And they'll likely be very young and healthy. Most will grow up as wards of the state. If they're lucky, they'll find loving foster families. If not, they'll spend their teens in a group home.

Anything that exposes these kids--especially the older ones--to potential adoptive families has to be good. Their stories are heartbreaking on their own, without the added cruelty of growing up in the child welfare system.