September 19, 2021

I am delighted to inform you that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver, BC Canada, has added a section to their website providing information for those who have lost loved ones to adoption.

The section ‘ADOPTION: Loss and Support’ can be easily accessed: https://rcav.org/marriage-and-family/adoption

Search:

·       RCAV website or Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver

·       Ministries and Offices

·       Marriage and Family Life

·       Scroll down, you will see OVERVIEW, RESOURCES then click on ADOPTION.

This page is the result of three years of communications with Archbishop Michael Miller and his staff to gain recognition and acknowledgement of the church’s participation in the Federal government of Canada’s WWII forced adoption mandate which impacted the lives of approximately 350,000 women, their babies and other family members.

This web page is also the third step in the ongoing process of the Catholic Church’s efforts and responses to our concerns with the ultimate goal being a formal apology and an active program of reconciliation.

In September/October 2020 the BC Catholic Newspaper, Facebook and Website published a series of eight articles about forced adoptions and it’s lifelong impact on mothers and babies. The assistant editor of the BC Catholic, Agnieszka Ruck has received several national and North American Awards in print journalism for her coverage of the complex issues related to adoption.

Then in May 2021, for the first time ever, Archbishop Miller included mothers who lost their children to forced adoption in his annual Mother’s Day Blessing video message.  The series of articles and the video are posted on the ADOPTION web page.

After searching twenty-five Catholic websites world-wide and finding NO information related to adoption loss and support, I believe that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver is the first in the world to recognize and publicly acknowledge, on their website,  it’s role in this tragic history.

Sincere thanks to Archbishop Miller and his staff. Thanks also to my colleagues across Canada, in the U.S. and Australia for your support and encouragement throughout this process.

Bernadette Dumas-Rymer, Mother

Vice-President, Forget Me Not Family Society, British Columbia,  Canada