Vancouver Island’s only private adoption agency has been saved from closure after a new board of directors took over with a vow to keep the doors open.
Choices Adoption and Pregnancy Counselling Agency’s previous three-member board announced it would be closing May 31 due to a decline in the number of children available for international adoption.
That led to a swell of community support for the 30-year-old agency, including a petition with 1,300 signatures. An emergency board meeting Wednesday night led to the election of eight new board members who reversed the decision to close the agency.
“It’s been an emotional ride,” said Choices executive director Robin Pike. “We’re now very optimistic about the viability of the organization and the opportunity for growth.”
After hearing news of the closure, Victoria Mitchell of Esquimalt spearheaded an initiative to save the agency, launching a Facebook page and the petition.
“I said: ‘No, this can’t happen,’ ” she said, after being elected vice-chair of the board.
Mitchell turned to Choices 25 years ago when she placed her son James up for adoption through an open arrangement that allowed her to maintain a relationship with James and his adoptive family.
Mitchell will serve on the board alongside James’s adoptive mother, Tuija Stevenson, who was elected as a board member.
Mitchell said she’s certain that having board members with direct experience with adoption will make all the difference in advocating for the agency. Having a larger board of directors also provides more resources to reach out to potential sponsors and donors, she said.
“We asked for help,” Mitchell said. “When you ask for help, people come out of the woodwork.”
The agency is also buoyed by 200 new members at large, who provide an influx of membership dues and community support for fundraising initiatives and strategic planning, Pike said.
Pike believes the decision by the previous board to close was “a bit precipitous,” as staff was not given the chance to brainstorm with board members on ways to keep the adoption agency open.
More than a hundred people attended Wednesday’s board meeting, including people from the Lower Mainland and Powell River who voiced support for the agency.
“We felt so supportive and really encouraged by that energy now there for us to tap into,” Pike said.
Choices is the only licensed adoption agency on Vancouver Island and one of three agencies left in the province. Family Services of Greater Vancouver closed in November.
The agency serves more than 140 families, including those pursuing adoption within Canada and internationally.
It also provides pregnancy counselling and facilitates contact between birth parents and adopted children.
The agency is one of only two in Canada licensed to facilitate adoptions for children from Romania, Pike said. It’s also licensed to do adoptions directly with India, and as a result, Pike expects to serve former clients of Family Services of Greater Vancouver.
“That India program was a big program in Vancouver, so a lot of their potential clients and adoptions have come to us,” she said.
Pike is set to meet with the Ministry of Children and Family Development, the adoption licensing body, today to discuss the agency’s next steps.
