I'll add onto that, once I compose myself.
I'm very proud of you for coming here.
The reason I'm here is I want to show Jessica that Canada is a place where children have a voice.
Going through this process, as scary as it might be...this is where we can voice our concerns regarding the EI benefits. Had I given birth to my lovely daughter, I would have had 50 full weeks—35 parental and 15 top-up. I had 35 weeks. When the children went to school, and especially my son, we had several months of challenges. The schools wanted him out. He was incontinent, quite often peeing his pants. I needed to be there. I was called from work constantly to go home to deal with the issues Justin was having.
As Jessica said, the first year was challenging in school. There wasn't always a lot of support. She was told to stop talking about adoption, that we're her forever family. They weren't keen on the words or the acronyms that were being used. Our family, and I think some other families, feel it's a human right to be treated equally.
Really, fairness is not that everyone gets the same; fairness is that everyone gets what they need to succeed. To succeed as a family, I needed to be home a lot longer with my children. The transition was quite challenging.
CAS was our friend. I liked them being in my home. It was a normal thing for us. Our neighbours were mortified. They saw the CAS van coming again, thinking there were issues. There weren't. There were constant visits to see if we were struggling, which we were at times. There were attachment issues. There were a lot of other issues. So as not to embarrass Jessica, I won't go into those details. We're just coming out of them after six years, and it's been a challenge.
I've been teaching my children to advocate. Because you're adopted doesn't mean you don't have a voice or you can't say what you want. You can come to the highest level of government to give your voice and state that the EI benefits need to be longer, especially for adoptive families. I may not be physically recovering from giving birth; we're emotionally recovering.
Jessica had some physical recoveries to go through, and we needed the time to bond as a family. I feel that as adoptive support groups and families we can make a difference. We ask the government to change the EI benefits to equal that of birth families. That would mean the world for upcoming new adoptees.
I have to lead by example, so that's why we're here. If I talk about it, I need to pull through and also come to speak, and allow my daughter to voice her opinion too.
Thank you, and thanks for inviting us.