Provincial Contact
Mary Craig
Dept. of Community Services
Family & Children’s Services Division
Box 696
Halifax, NS B3J 2T7
902-424-3205
[email protected]
Nova Scotia’s Adoption Resources on the Web:
https://www.novascotia.ca/coms/families/adoption/index.html
In Nova Scotia the eligibility criteria for pre legal and post legal subsidized adoption is as follows:
- child must be under 19 years of age
- child must be residing with the adoptive parents
- child either is or was previously in the care of a child welfare agency in Nova Scotia
- approval of the Executive Director/District Manager
- child has a special service need or a special placement need.
Child has a special service need because of one or more of the following:
- A diagnosed physical or mental disability;
- A diagnosed emotional disturbance or behavioural problem;
- A diagnosed developmental delay or learning disability;
- A diagnosed medical condition;
OR
Child has a special placement need because of one or more of the following:
- The child is a member of a sibling group who should be placed together, either jointly or successively.
- The child has established significant emotional ties for a period of at least one year with a person or persons who propose to adopt the child.
- It is in the child’s best interests to be placed in a family with the same ethnic, racial, linguistic, or cultural heritage or, where this is not possible, with a family who is sensitive to the child’s heritage.
OR
It is determined by the Executive Director or District Manager that post- legal adoption designation should be granted due to special service needs as identified in Subsection 3, which have arisen and which can be clearly linked to pre-adoption history or circumstances.
The maintenance rates range from $14.64 to $21.02 per diem for board. However, maintenance rates are not provided in all cases. Where there is an identified need for maintenance rates, an income test is applied. The majority of payments are the actual costs of services not covered by personal or provincial medical plans.
In addition, the subsidized adoption program provides for financial assistance to offset some of the costs of adopting a child with special needs. The agencies are not mandated to provide post legal adoption services such as counselling. Families are referred for this assistance. We do not cover residential care or services outside of Nova Scotia. The
subsidy is focused on services for the child in their community, therefore we do not cover services for the parents such as marital counselling and courses.
Benefits are available up to 19 years of age if a child meets the eligibility criteria and may be extended to 21 years if the child is in school.