_ 4, The Herald, Wednesday, Apri! B. 198% Fre wee E-RELEW AT daily herald -"* General Qffice - 635 4057 "+ Circutation - 43$-4357 Published by Sterling Publishers Publisher — Garry Husak Editor — Pete Nadeau CLASS. ADS. TERRACE 635.4000 CIRCULATION. TERRACE 635 4357 Published every weekday at 3010 Kalum Street. Terrace. BC. Aulhorired as second ciass mail. Registration number 120). Postage paid in cash, return postage gQuaranteed. ror NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT The Herald retains tuill. compiete and sole copyright in any adverlisement produced and-or any editorial ar photographic content published in fhe Herald. Reproduction is not permitted without Ihe written permission of the Pubtisher _ ‘The last in a serles of three articles by Gordon Hardy on adopting a child in B.C. * A 1900 survey showed that 75 per cent of B.C. residents - polled thought fostering a child meant sending $10 a month to _a Third World child. Such confusion is no news to the Ministry of Human: ‘Resources (MHR) which cares for thousands of homeless ‘children here in B.C, Many people, it says, don't understand “what fostering is, or how it differs from adopting. - Chris Reinhold, Co-ordinator of Family and Children’s Services with the MHR, says ‘We try to make clear to people -Hiat there is a difference,-If they want a child for keeps, we ei “bpcourage them to go thraugh the adoption channel.” */ Foster children, she says, may remain wards of the state Seven though they are temporarily in the care of a foster ‘parent. About 60 per cent of the 9000 children in the MHR’s gaye are only temporary wards of the state. They come from families in which the parents are temporarily unable to look ifter them, often due to family breakdown or illness. They Safe returned to their families whenever possible; in the eWaeantime, they need an alternate home. 22 the remaining 40 per cent are permanent legal wards of “ke state. Many of them are children with special needs who “aie considered bard to place with adopting families. They . te usually older children, or children with physical or Oa “behavioral problems. The MHR estimates that about 15 per ~Fane “pnt of these children come from homes in which they were -ac victims of serious abuse or neglect. *cProblems arise when foster parents become so attached to “their foster children that they are unwilling to give them up. “Hane Auxier, aB.C, lawyer who works in the adoptions area, ‘says she’s seen painful cases where foster parents have ‘Mapuccessfully tried to adopt the baby they've been locking ‘after for some time. Reinhold says the MHR discourages foster parents from ying to adopt foster children for fear that fostering will be “Seen as a kind of back door to adoption. Most people, she aaays, know that adopting a child may be a long, difficult “process and may be tempted to oblain a child through + fostering, a simpler method. “s"Aunier says, “Time does go by and the foster parents form ha strong attachment that you find yourself weighing the "Dest interests of the child in terms of whether it's best to “Rgnore the policy and leave the foster child with its foster “feimily, or be concerned whether that’s going to give foster "parents a back door to adoption.” 2 2Unlike adopting parents, foster parents are paid by the SaHR for costs incurred for the upkeep of the child. The payments are modest, though they may actually be more ‘:iBan the natural parent would get on welfare for the child. 2itAdopting parents, on the other hand, assume full izgesponsibitity for the financial upkeep of the child they adapt. SThe adopted child and its natural parents no long have any 2Jegal relationship. They will likely not even know who they sare. Both adopted children and natural parents have often “=Béen frustrated in their attempt to find out the identity of the “Zolher: no such legal right to know exists in B.C. and tlie MHR >gGll oaly release non-identifying information. The Adoption - Act makes provision for a court to release this confidential information but to date no court has agreed todo this. ‘Auxier says a provincial commission once considered =stelting up a reunion register by which adopted children aver ‘49 and natural parents could. voluntarily locate each other. “2iffhe idea was dropped, she says, because of strong opposition *by adopting parents. ==She notes, however, that.the Adopting Parents Association ‘nf B.C. is now in favor of establishing a reunion registry. OTTAWA (CP) — The Commons was left dark and empty for two hours in the middle of a suspense-filled. afternoon Tuesday as MPs adjourned temporarily to figure out their next move in - turn of events, the Commons the continuing drama - surrounding the constitution debate. , -' It was a stark contrast to the noisy heckling that took place earlier during the daily Commons question period when Opposition Leader Joe privately talking over the new Liberal strategy: while government MPs repeatedly burst out in loud applause signalling strong approval of their leader's decision. Then in another surprising was quickly . adjourned’ ‘by unanimous agreement go the three House leaders ‘could ‘meet down the hall in an effort to reach some agreement on how Parlia- ment should proceed with eo a5 the contentious constitution Tory MPs scuttled about. Some milled around the marble hallways talking . over the implications of Trudeau’s proposal, Others met in Clark's private offices to await the first results of the talks between Government House Leader Y yon Pinard and his counterparts _ Con- —s de ceive ae New Demorat Stanley Knowles. At one point, Justice Minister Jean Chretien swept purposefully down the ‘hall while reporters — ex- pecting anything by now — watched him head toward the Conservative leader's Chretien moved towards Clark’s door, then tumed around and laughed at the reporters, He quickly turned to leave and skipped down a Engrs: pon av) of Commons was as quiet as a tomb’ nearby staircase ta lhe prime minister's office. ‘ The Commons returned to | life late in the afternoon but not for the constitution debate since the delicate, all- party negotiations continued off and on to 9:45 p.m. EST. Instead, it was agreed to continue work on legislation to turn the post office into a Crown corporation. ' Veteran Tory MP George Hees, first elected in 1950, said. he had never seen such a flurry of unanticipated aclivily. Even Trudeau, who touched it off, delayed a scheduled flight to Quebec City as the situation changed . hourly. Eventually the prime minister left ta attend the premiere of the Canadian film Les Plouffes, based on a book by Roger Lemelin, publisher of the Montreal newspaper La Presse. Snel FP rasktes . . ~ the government’s plans. a ‘servative whip Bill Kem- Clark grilled Prime Minister © Bee Trudeau about meeting the — : servative Walter Baker and eight premiers opposed to Progressive Conservative and Liberal MPs shouted and fired blistering insults across the floor ‘as Trudeau accused the Conservatives of - deliberately delaying con- : stitutional business. . “Bierre speaks with forked tongue,”’ yelled Conservative MP Jack Shields of Alberta’s Athabasca riding. Shields and several other Tories had to be calmed several times by Con- pling, whoeven earned mock applause from Liberal MPs __ for stopping a beckler at- tempting to disrupt one of the prime minister’s an- swers. “Sixty-five-per-cent Joe!” the rowdy Liberals chanted — a reference to the fact more than one-third of delegates to a recent Tory meeting voted ‘to Hold 4 leadership convention ta re- place Clark. Bul the chamber was soon hushed in surprise when Trudeau rose and unex- pectedly accepted a Tory challenge to talk with the premiers who say they are working out an alternative to at least part of his con- stitutional proposals. The Tories sat quietly with some prominent MPs Sacatatrae isin s Ree in Ba DAY CARE CENTRE now in session. / huddling around Clark, Provinces rights: teeomne pda cane HAMILTON, Ont. (CP) — The federal government's constitutional package now before Parliament could destroy the provinces' resource ownership rights through its amending mechanism, Alberta Energy Minister Merv Leitch said Tuesday night. With a critical meeting with federal Energy Minister Mare Lalonde scheduled for Monday to try again to settle their energy differences, Leitch told the annual meeting of the local Chamber of Commerce that po- tential power is one reason Alberta opposes Otlawa's suggestions so adamantly. He sdid the federal government's constitutional and energy policies are seen ‘as an attempt to assume control, ina massive way, over the development, sale - or other disposition of a province's natural resources.” “The underlying theme of Ottawa’s energy and con- stitutional proposals is the creation of a new form of Confederation to change dramatically the rules under which we lived since our birth as provinces and,a nation, to change them to our detriment. ...” That is the reason, he said, Albertans feel they have — no choice but to oppose Ottawa's proposals “with all the strength and determination we can muster.” It was Leitch's second message for central Canada in two days. On Monday, he told a Toronto luncheon not: entrenched. ror yay de Si ais sponsored by the Canadian Manufacturers". ciation that he cannot be optimistic about the oulcome of his talks with Lalonde. ’ “Nothing Ottawa has done or said to date indicates that it has the will, the desire, to reach an agreement a ae - the producing provinces could find acceptable,” he said then, , He told his Hamilton audience that, after long and hard negotiations with the former government of Progressive Conservative. Joe Clark to get an energy agreement, Alberta "still dug down and put something more on the table in an effort to reach an agreement with the administration of Prime Minister Trudeau.” “His government rejected that offer and brought in‘ the energy proposals and budget on Oct. 22, 1980. . “Those energy proposals and budget made it very — _ clear to ws that the present federal administration ’ never had any desire or intention to reach an energy agreement with the producing. provinces.” Leitch repeated his longstanding arguments against -the national energy program and Ottawa's proposed pricing and tax system for oil and natural gas, and’ noted that Alberta is often accused of being greedy, insensitive to the needs of other Canadians and un- . willing to share its good fortune. Nothing could be further from the truth, he said. 1 Poland. under Soviet gun _ The Herald welcomes its readers comments. Allletters toa the editor al general public interest will be printed. We do, however, retain the right to refuse to print letters on grounds of possible libel or bad taste. We may also edil letters for style and length. All letters to be considered for publication must be signed. LETTERS WELCOME WASHINGTON (AP) - Poland remains under the gun of possible Soviet military action despite the end of a Warsaw pact manoeuvre and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev's assertion that the Polish Communist party can handle its own affairs, U.S, analysts say. ‘ “" wouldn't take a vacation in Poland in the next couple of weeks,” said oneanalyst, who asked not to te identified. Be believes Brezhney was “giving the Poles more time to get their. act together” to ,the Soviet Union's satisfaction. Another specialist on Eastern Europe, who also requested anonymity, said “there’s not that much to cheer about’ despite an easing of the crisis at- mosphere of recent days. - _ Al the state department, spokesman William Dyess ‘responded cautiously to Brezhnev's speech, _delivered Tuesday at a /L CANT WAIT To See THE CANucKS INTHE PLAYOFFS. POETRY IN MOTION, GRACE, ELEGANCE, POWER , FINESSE... speed! VICTOR! bevenminatonf Ceechostevak . Communist party congress “If he meant to say that the Poles should be allowed to solve their own problems without oulside interference, we would welcome this,” Dyess said, “That's been our consistent position.” But at the White House, deputy press secretary Larry Speakes said: "From what we've seen of the ‘Brezhnev remarks, they do not give a clear picture of Soviet intentions. We believe it's too early to draw any firm conclusions.” Hours after Czechoslovak and Polish news agencies announced - the end of the longest Warsaw pact manoeuvre in more than a . Gecade, the state depart- ment said the reporis apply only to Soyuz 81. “As of today, we continue to observe an unvsual level of military activity in the area," the state department said. Boy, He MUST Be SMOKING, GOOD REPORT 35. FROM ; THE LEGISLATURE = By PREMIER BILL BENNETT i Someone asked me the other day how I would describe myself politically, and asked, wasn’ tit true that] am really a populist. . . I answered him that he was absolufely right. I ama . populist. And, I'm proud of it. Social Credit in this province _has always been populist, grassroots. It has never been the favorite of either big business or big labor. The only ones who favor it are the people of this province. And, the reason is that we are a populist party, a party commitied to helping people and a party that has traditlonally created every major people program that the dtizens of this province have come to look upon, and justly so, as their rights. Take dollar-a-day hospital insurance. That was a Social Credit program. Take medicare. It was brought io In the 1960's not as a national plan, but brought in by the British - Columbia government in a way that helped the federal governinent bring in its own health pan. When [ think of things like the homeowner grant, J think of Social Credit and relief against property taxes.. When | think of things like the expansion of educational services, ] think of Social Credit. The opposition often talks about how they favor education yet in their brief term in government all they did was experiment without improving the system. They raised the coats but built no new major facilities, Tcan remember when in the Interior we had no colleges, no vocational schools. Today people take for granted a college, - a vocational and technical school system with campuses not only in the Lower Mainland but in every region of this province. That was brought in by Social Credit, - : We brought in long-term care because for too long our hospital costs were accelerating by putting people into seute- care beds that could be treated in much less expensive long- ferm care units. . We developed the long-term care sysiem. And yes, in the short term it’s expensive but today thousands ‘of British - Columbians, including our seniors, are getting health care that before was not available to them. The NDP have suggested we should have cut back in spending in this year’s budget. Is this one of the programs they would have cut? We brought in universal pharmacare that giveé a good measure of protection not just to our seniors but to families - with chronically ill children. We would pot cut that program. - ‘We brought im a dental-care program that helps our seniors , and our young. It concentrates on preventative dental care . for our young peoplr.and on helping with certain of the costs of dental care for senior citizens. We do not intend to cancel that program. We will impfove it in ‘the. future, We brought in programs called shelter-aid for the eldesly renter. That's for our.senior citizens, the people who built hance ant helped create the prosperity we have At a Lime when inflation is not their responsibility buf they _are called on to pay the costs, the sbelter-aid program makes - sare that those with limited means will not pay more than 25 per cent of their income on rental accommodation, making ture they do not have to go into institutions, that they ean stay in their own homes, the homes they are used to ani saat (woke own friend. We woukdn’t cancel that program 2 Weg Lue ot xP greene” ee