This research project aims to provide a comprehensive portrait of child adoption in Quebec involving youth protection services.

3 OBJECTIFS

3 OBJECTIVES

OBJECTIVE 1

Describe the characteristics of children adopted through youth protection services, their birth and adoptive family environments, and their trajectories through youth protection services.

OBJECTIVE 2

Understand the experiences of adopted people, adoptive parents, and birth parents throughout the adoption process, including the challenges they encountered and their needs.

OBJECTIVE 3

Describe the overall health status of children adopted in Quebec and the use of health care and services by adoptive families.

The study consists of two components that draw on multiple sources of information to address these research objectives:

VOLET 1

The present component focuses primarily on the pre-adoption period and aims to address Objective 1 (characteristics and trajectories of children involved with youth protection services) and, in part, Objective 3 (health status prior to adoption).

A summary profile of all children adopted through youth protection services over the past 15 years will be developed. These data will be analyzed quantitatively.

A detailed profile based on clinical information available from case file reviews will be developed for a sample of children adopted in three regions of Quebec over the past five years. These data will be analyzed quantitatively.

A profile of adoption-related practices within the CISSS and CIUSSS will also be developed to provide context for the data collected.

VOLET 2

This component focuses primarily on members of the adoption triad (birth parent, adoptive parent, and adopted person) and aims to address Objective 2 (experience of the adoption journey) and, in part, Objective 3 (health status after adoption).

This component is based on two distinct methodological strategies:

* the administration of online questionnaires;

* the conduct of semi-structured interviews in the form of life stories.