Ontarians please read...

I copied this post from Beth with her permission. Please read if you are adopting a child in Ontario. I was mortified when I read this.

Saturday, March 7, 2009
My Fellow Ontarians
Prepare your dialing fingers ladies. The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care has decided that our children don't get OHIP coverage right away!!!!!!!!!! They have decided that a 3 month waiting period is mandatory. Please read this and spread it around. I got it from here. I know many of you don't read RQ so you might not have seen it.



Re: New Directive from OHIP Head Office that denies OHIP coverage for 3 months for all internationally adopted children

We are Donna and Brad, a couple who adopted a baby girl, Thao, from Viet Nam. We went to Viet Nam and adopted our daughter on Dec. 29th, 2008. She was granted Canadian citizenship on January 7, 2009. On February 12th, Brad went to the Kitchener OHIP office to apply for Thao's OHIP number. We were shocked when she was refused a number and told that there was now a 3 month waiting period for internationally adopted children. We thought that there had been a mistake.

Brad returned home and called the information line to obtain clarification about what exactly the policy was about granting coverage to internationally adopted children. The woman who he spoke with told him that a memo had been sent out from the Minister's office to all OHIP offices on January 27th, 2009 directing them to refuse coverage to children who were not Canadian citizens when they were adopted. Of course, Brad explained that that is impossible, that the process is that a child is adopted and then becomes a Canadian citizen. The woman checked with OHIP's head office and confirmed that the correct procedure is to deny OHIP coverage in our case. Brad asked why it was that the 2 other couples, who we met in Saigon and who had adopted children at the same time as we had, had gone to their OHIP offices in Toronto and Ottawa and had been immediately given OHIP numbers. She told him that their situations must be different from ours since they were granted OHIP numbers. When he assured her that they had adopted their children after us and had obtained their children's Canadian citizenship after Thao had obtained hers, she asked him if he could send her their information. He asked her if their coverage could be revoked if it was determined that their situations were the same as ours. She replied that, yes, their coverage could be revoked. Brad told her that he obviously
wasn't going to provide her with any information that could jeopardize their children's OHIP coverage.

After many phone calls, emails, and meetings with OHIP officials, our local MPP, our social worker, other parents, lawyers, and adoption agency directors, we now know the following: we were not a clerical error. We were not a special case. We were not a mistake. Denial of coverage to internationally adopted children for 3 months is policy. This policy was not publicized so it is taking everyone involved in adoption, from agency directors, to social workers, to parents, by surprise. This policy is so new that it is being inconsistently applied from OHIP office to OHIP office so that on the same day in Ontario, one child might be granted OHIP coverage while somewhere else in the province another child in exactly the same circumstances is denied it. However, one thing is clear: while, as far as we know, our child was the first to be denied coverage, the numbers of children who are being denied is increasing every day throughout the entire province.

The first thing that everyone who has adopted a child, or is going to adopt in the future, needs to know is that the Ministry of Health considers the granting of OHIP coverage to all internationally adopted children in the past to be a mistake. The Ministry has been contacted by many agency directors and social workers who have heard about our case, and, we surmise that as a result of the number of queries about the denial of coverage for our daughter, Sue Graham, a representative from the head office of the Ministry of Health contacted us to obtain more information about our case. What she told us exactly was that the Ministry considers that all adopted children, who did not have citizenship or valid immigration status on the date they were adopted, were given OHIP coverage by mistake. She clearly stated that the refusal to grant our daughter coverage until after a 3 month waiting period was the correct procedure. She told us that our file was being sent to her manager and would most likely be sent to her manager's manager.

On Wednesday, March 4th, we received the official denial of the three month waiting period exemption for our daughter. The core of their argument is that "an adopted child must hold a citizenship or immigration status recognized under Regulation 552 of the Health Insurance Act on the date of adoption". Of course, as you know, this is impossible since you can't get citizenship until after you have actually adopted your child. This is definitely a change in policy and from what we understand is the result of the memo/directive (we haven't been able to get a copy) from Minister Caplan's office on Jan. 27, 2009, although, as we wrote, not all health offices have been enforcing it. As has been mentioned, two other couples who were in Saigon with us and returned after us, one to Ottawa and one to Toronto, got immediate coverage.

So, where do things stand right now? Needless to say, we are incensed for Thao and for all internationally adopted children. We have retained a lawyer and have filed a formal appeal to the Ministry of Health. Our lawyer and other interested lawyers have studied the Health Insurance Act line by line to determine if the provincial government's position has any validity. In their view, there is not a requirement for citizenship on the date of adoption.

We are also in touch with members of the media to make this public. We are sending this email to as many adoption agencies, social workers, and parents, as we can, as we become aware of them.

We are sending this to you to ask you for your help in our fight against what is obviously an unjust and discriminatory policy. If you know of anyone who has been refused health care coverage for their child, please ask them to email us immediately (donna.brad@sympatico.ca). As well, please email, Premier McGuinty, Minister of Health Caplan, your local MPP, and Sue Graham at OHIP (sue.graham@ontario.ca). The person who sent us the letter informing us of Thao's denial of OHIP coverage did not provide an email address. However, her name is Susan Pinnery, A/Director, Registration and Claims Branch.

Finally, we believe that the provincial government thinks that the number of people affected by this policy is small and that we don't carry much weight. Therefore, please forward this on to your friends, relatives, and anyone else who is opposed to this policy.

Cheers,
Brad and Donna

Time to call your MPP.