What Adoption Information and Resources Does the Belonging Network Offer?

The Belonging Network (formerly the Adoptive Families Association of BC) offers adoption information across four types—infant adoption, adoption from BC foster care, international adoption, and adoption by a relative or step-parent—plus pages on eligibility, costs and timeline, a step-by-step adoption guide, adoption statistics, an FAQ, and a glossary. It also provides learning through its LEAP program and toolkits, and support through one-to-one family support and online support groups. This is a starting point for prospective adopters in British Columbia who want to understand their options and the process before committing.

Adoption types covered

The site's Adoption & Permanency section breaks adoption into four paths, each with its own page:

If you are still deciding which path fits your situation, read these four pages first. They are the site's own categorization, so use them to identify the route that matches your circumstances, then move to the eligibility and process pages.

Eligibility, costs, timeline, and step-by-step process

Two pages carry most of the practical planning information:

• Eligibility, costs, & timeline — the page to check before anything else, since it frames whether and when a given adoption path is realistic for you.
• Adoption step-by-step — a sequenced walkthrough of the process, useful for turning a general intention into a checklist of stages.

Read eligibility first, then the step-by-step page. The order matters: the process page assumes you already know which adoption type you are pursuing.

Reference material: statistics, FAQ, and glossary

Three resources answer the questions people usually search for after reading the overview pages:

• Adoption statistics — figures on adoption in the BC context.
• Frequently asked questions — short answers to common adoption questions.
• Glossary — definitions for adoption and permanency terminology, including terms like permanency, guardianship, kinship care, Indigenous customary care, and foster care, which the site also treats as related permanency options alongside adoption.

The glossary is the fastest way to get oriented if the terminology is unfamiliar; the statistics page is better for understanding scale and trends.

Learning and toolkits for prospective adopters

Beyond reference pages, the site offers structured learning under Resources & Education:

• Introduction to Adoption and Permanency — an introductory resource.
• LEAP – Learning for Everyone in Adoption and Permanency — the network's learning program.
• Toolkits — practical resource collections by topic.
• Resources by topic and News — ongoing material organized by subject.

For someone considering adoption, the Introduction and LEAP are the natural next step after the overview pages; toolkits are more useful once you have a specific question or stage in mind.

Support while you decide or wait

The Get support section lists one-to-one family support, online support groups, Permanency Support, and community groups and resources. The site also names audience-specific entry points—new caregivers, youth in and from care, Indigenous families, waiting families, relatives raising relatives, adoptive families, and guardianship families—so you can start from the group that describes you rather than reading everything.

How to use the site efficiently

1. Start with Eligibility, costs, & timeline to check whether adoption is feasible for you now.
2. Pick your adoption type from the four pages and read that page.
3. Follow Adoption step-by-step to map the stages.
4. Use the FAQ and glossary for terminology and quick answers; check statistics for context.
5. If you want structured learning, go to Introduction to Adoption and Permanency and LEAP; if you want to talk to someone, use one-to-one family support or an online support group.

One caveat: the site describes itself as serving adoptive and permanency families and youth from government care in BC, so its process guidance is grounded in the BC system. If you are outside British Columbia, treat the adoption-type and glossary pages as general orientation and confirm process details with your own province's or country's authority.