Quebec couple calls on Quebec to rethink moratorium on international adoptions

A Quebec couple who cannot have a baby wants to adopt, but is being told the wait list in Quebec is 15 to 20 years.

A Quebec couple who cannot have a baby is looking to adopt, but is being told the wait list in Quebec is 15 to 20 years.

The Quebec government also imposed a moratorium on international adoptions, leaving very few options for Natalia Cristancho-Mercado and her husband, Michel Jalbout.

They are both university-educated professionals with good jobs and their own home in Laval. The “have it all,” except parenthood, they say.

“It’s very hard when you have to talk about your fertility,” Cristancho-Mercado said through some tears during an interview.

Their difficulty conceiving has led them to consider adopting. “We would like to offer a safe and lovely home [for] our child. We are ready,” she said.

They’ve applied to be foster parents but say they haven’t heard any news in three months.

In 2024, the François Legault government announced a moratorium on international adoptions, preventing Quebecers from adopting a child from abroad or even from another province because of child-trafficking concerns.

“It’s a really difficult situation because we don’t have real options to adopt,” Jalbout said.

Cristancho-Mercado wrote to Premier Legault and members of the National Assembly about their situation, but only one called her back, Independent MNA Marwah Rizqy, who says countries that have child trafficking problems should be banned for international adoptions, not all nations.

“If we just focus on the country that we do have a problem and keep the ban for this country, but for the other country, we should just lift the ban,” Rizqy said.

“And I don’t understand, how can Ontario have the same good standard as we do here in Quebec for adoption? They don’t have any ban. And why do we have a ban for international adoption? I don’t think it’s fair for all the families waiting for a baby, for their first baby … I hope that Natalia can actually have her family before Christmas.”

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CTV News reached out to Quebec’s health and justice ministries, as well as the Secretariat for Adoptions, but did not get a response before publication time.

The couple says they feel pushed to leave Quebec if they want to be parents.

“The time is running [out] and I am in my 40s and we would like to have a family,” Cristancho-Mercado said.

“If the government doesn’t move, I have to take our decision for my family because it’s our dream.”

Jalbout added: “That’s why we’re doing an urgent plea to the government to revise this moratorium on international adoptions.”