Hundreds of Ontario adoptions on hold amid Motherisk drug-test scandal

The Ontario government has ordered hundreds of adoption cases to stop moving forwardwhile a judge reviews whether thechildren should have been put up for adoption in the first place, CBC News has learned.

The move has put as many as 300 families in legal limbo,not knowing when or if their adoptions will be finalized.

It comes in the wake of the scandal over the Motheriskdrug-testing programrun by Toronto'sHospitalfor Sick Children. The laboratoryanalysed the hair ofbabiesto test for drug and alcohol use by their moms, and the results were used as evidence in the cases ofthousands of children taken into care by children's aid societies.

• Flawed Motherisk drug tests to be reviewed by judge
• Hair drug test used in child-protection cases found 'unreliable'

"Any active adoption where aMotherisktest has been a factor in the case will be put on hold until it can be reviewed," said AlyVitunski, press secretary to Children and Youth Services MinisterTraceyMacCharles.

Some200 to 300 families trying to adopt are now being told of the pause, saidMaryBallantyne, chief executive of theOntario Association of Children's Aid Societies.

"Certainly upset, frustration,concern would be what these families would be feeling at this point in time," Ballantyne said in a phone interview.

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Some of the families have reached out toAdopt4Life, a provincial support group for adoptive parents."Families are pretty stressed and frightened about the fact that their adoption is not moving forwards," JulieDespaties, the group'sfounder,said in a phoneinterview.

"They don't know when things will get resolved,"Despatiessaid. "There's a sense of urgency and panic not knowing, because there's no answer, no one can provide them a date that theprocess will restart."

The government is not putting a timeline on reviewing the adoption cases that are already in process.

"We know that it's important that these cases be expedited which is why they will be triaged and given priority for review," Vitunskisaid in anemail.

Some 9,000 people tested positive for drug use according totheMotherisk lab at SickKidsfrom 2005 to 2015. The test results were primarily usedin child protection cases in Family Courtby children's aid societiesto arguethat kids should be taken from their parents and into care.

The flawed tests would not have been a key factor in every casewhen a childwas apprehended, but mayhave unjustly influenced the decisions in some, saidretired appeal court justice Susan Lang in herreport onMotheriskin December,

SickKids shut down the lab last spring.