Revision as of 19:50, 9 April 2015

2010-14: Trends

The Times of India

2010-14: in-country and tnter-country adoptions

Feb 21 2015

50% dip in figure from 2010 to 2014

With an estimated 50,000 orphan children in want of safe homes in the country, Union minister Maneka Gandhi on Friday blamed the “idleness and deliberate lying“ of adoption agencies for delays and bottlenecks in the process. Domestic adoptions in India have nearly halved from 5,693 in 2010 to 2,503 in 2014. Maneka, who holds charge as minister for women and child development, said she wanted 15,000 children adopted in a year instead of the annual rate of 800-1000. “I am actually appalled by all of you. I have found bottlenecks, idleness, unconcern, deliberate lying... in this process you have destroyed thousands of lives,“ she said.

The minister was addressing the national meet on adoption organized by Cara (Central Adoption Resource Authority). Describing the agencies as “irresponsible and unaccountable Gandhi said, “When I joined in 2000, the adoption rate was 1,500-1,200, which tumbled to 400-800 per year. In a country which has got 50,000 orphans who can be adopted, it is shameful that the number is 800 to 1,000,... and it continues to come down. The minister also accused some agencies of preferring foreign parents over Indians. “Many of you won't give (the child) to Indians, you wait for a foreigner. I have zero tolerance for anybody who denies adoption. In our new act, Cara will have a lot of power.One of its powers is to remove Sara (State Adoption Resource Authority), to remove adoption agencies, to completely ban them,“ he said.

The minister also said that a foster care scheme will be launched for orphan children under which families will be paid by the government to keep them.

In an effort to provide identity and improved monitoring of orphans, the ministry gave away Aadhaar cards to children from adoption homes.

The ministry is also hoping to notify the new adoption guidelines governing adoption that is expected to speed up the process and introduce transparency . Maneka gave directions that the entire process of adopting a child should not take more than four months and the performance of adoption agencies will now be monitored by the ministry and Cara on a weekly basis.

2015: adoption rooms for foreigners eased

The Times of India

Mar 27 2015

Centre eases adoption rules for foreignersbb

Indrani Bagchi

Foreign nationals adopting Indian children can look forward to a less traumatic experience of taking home a child with the foreign ministry streamlining the passport issuance guidelines. The ministry will no longer insist on a separate birth certificate to issue a passport to an adopted child. The court order which is necessary for adoption will suffice as proof of birth date.

The order gains significance since prospective parents, instead of running from pillar to post to obtain a birth certificate, can now get an Indian passport for their adopted children based only on the court order.

Despite being a member of the Hague Convention from 1993, there were some rules that made things interminably long and difficult for people wanting to take home children from India.

Muktesh Pardeshi, chief passport officer, told TOI, “While our systems have become much better, we found that it was not serving or phans and abandoned children effectively.“ For interested parents, the route to adoption was tricky , because the process demanded a court order, a “no-objection certificate“ from Central Adoption Resource Authority , the nodal agency in the Indian government, and a birth certificate.