Adoptions paused over flawed drug tests leaves would-be parents 'extremely frustrated'

The two little girls havebeen living with Jennifer and her husband for nine months, forming what she describes as a loving, happy family.

"They are our children, in our hearts and in our home," said Jennifer.

The girls werejust one step away from officiallybecoming their children in the eyes of the law,when the couple learned theiradoption is now on hold indefinitelylike hundreds of others in Ontario.

"When we were told, my heart sank," Jennifer said in a phone interview.

• Why hundreds of adoptions are on hold in Ontario
• Drug test used in child-protection cases 'unreliable'

CBC News revealed on Monday that theOntario government has ordered hundreds ofadoption cases to stop moving forwardwhile a judge reviews whether thechildren should have been taken into the care of children's aidin the first place.

Birth parents asked to contact commission

The review involves 200 to 300cases where inaccurate drug testsby the Motherisklaboratory at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children may have influenced the decision to apprehend the children.The programused hair analysis to testfor drug and alcohol use, but was declared unreliable and was shut down last April.

Birth parents who believe theirchildren were taken away because of the flawed tests are being asked to contact the provincial commission reviewing the cases.

The families hoping to adopt are being told they have towait.

"We feelextremelyfrustrated," said Jennifer, whoaskedthat her last name not be used to protect the family's privacy.

"Ouradoptionhas not been easy.We just thought we were finally getting to a special point in our family and in our lives that we could say this is done. Having that last piece is so important to all of us."

Another woman who spoke to CBC Newsis in the process ofadopting a two-year-old boy.

"He's awesome, he's really developing and changing every day," she said."He broughtsomethinginto our lives that wedidn't know was missing.Now we're a family, so I can't even imagine not having him here with us."

'Quite shocking'

The Toronto woman and her partnerhad jumped through all the hoops, passed through the six-month probationary period, and were expecting a court date in March to receivefinal approval for the adoption. That's now on hold.

"It was quite shockingto find out that we wouldn't be able to have this finalized in the timeframe that it was supposed to be," said the woman. CBC granted herrequest for anonymityto protect the family's privacy.

When we were told, my heart sank- Jennifer, would-be adoptive mother

She says she has sympathy for the birth parents on the other side of the Motherisk controversy.

"If their children were taken away solely based on this one test that's awful," she said. "I'm hoping that's not the case, I'm hoping there's a larger picture of why children were taken away from their biological parents."

"I don't want to lose my son."

The government and Children's Aid Societies say they cannot predict how long it will take before the cases are resolved.

An independent commission set up by the provincefound theMotherisk tests fell short ofinternational forensic standards and foundthe lab oftenmisinterpretedtest results.

TheMotherisklab reported some9,000 positive drug tests in the decade before it was shut down. The test results were primarily usedin child protection cases in Family Court to arguethat kids should be taken from their parents and into care of children's aid.