A group of prospective parents whose overseas adoptions are in limbo after an Ontario-based adoption agency declared bankruptcy this month said Tuesday they are hopeful the province will help them in their quest to be united with their children.

Kids Link International, a Cambridge-based agency which operated under the name Imagine Adoption, posted a bankruptcy notice on its website July 13.

As many as 400 Canadian families, many who paid $15,000 in adoption fees, are now waiting to find out when they will be matched with their adopted children. They have been listed as unsecured creditors in bankruptcy documents, posted online through bankruptcy trustee BDO Dunwoody.

David Cotter, a spokesman for the families group, called Tuesday's meeting in Toronto with Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services Minister Deb Matthews a "significant first step."

Cotter said Matthews understood the gravity of the situation and had assured the families that the government was working with BDO Dunwoody to make sure whatever agency comes out of the bankruptcy maintains the licences that are necessary to complete the adoptions.

"BDO's staff have said it's their intent to help the province bring [Imagine Adoption] out of bankruptcy," said Cotter. "I think it's quite likely that we'll be able to continue on with Imagine in the future."

But Matthews couldn't commit that all the families would be able to complete their adoption process, Cotter said.

While Cotter said there is a sense among the families that the situation will end positively, he added they are coming to understand that not all parents will connect with their children.

'An absolute heartbreak'

After the meeting with the families group, Matthews called the situation "an absolute heartbreak" for the affected families.

She said nine adoptions have been completed or are nearing completion since the bankruptcy notice was released, and she is in contact with federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to get visas for those children as quickly as possible.

"We are doing absolutely everything we can to facilitate the completion of those adoptions," said Matthews.

When asked whether the province was considering changes to the licensing requirements, Matthews said the government is focusing on the immediate issue for now. But she added her ministry is always looking for ways to improve the system.

For the last two years, Imagine Adoption and its sister companies had helped Canadians adopt children from Ethiopia, Ghana and Ecuador.

BDO Dunwoody has told the agency's clients that the children in Ethiopia are safe and being taken care of at Imagine Adoption's transitional house in the country's capital, Addis Ababa.

With files from The Canadian Press