Adoptions: India
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Contents |
The law
Child once given for adoption cannot be taken back
The Times of India, December 5, 2016
Jolt to mom as HC says child will stay with adoptive parents
The Calcutta high court has directed that a two-year-old child would remain with a couple who had adopted her, despite the biological mother's tearful plea to get her back, noting that a lower court had passed the order for adoption of the child.
A division bench comprising justices Ashim Kumar Ray and M M Banerjee observed that since it was hearing a habeas corpus petition by the girl's biological mother Jayashree Chowdhury , it would not tinker with the order of a Malda district court that had allowed the adoption.
Jayashree had married in her teens and had given birth to the child in September 2014. Within a few months of the birth of the child, she filed a complaint of having been thrown out of her in-laws' house. The child was then handed over to an NGO and Jayashree was sent to a government home. A few months later, Jayashree was reunited with her husband and pleaded with authorities to get her child back.
Siblings can be separated during adoption with consent
Siblings can be separated during adoption with consent: Maneka, January 3, 2018: The Times of India
In a significant development that will play a decisive role in the adoption of siblings, soon the consent of a child above five years of age in the adoption pool of the Child Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) could be sought before separating him or her from the sibling to enable adoption.
This will be a break from the current position wherein siblings are adopted together by a prospective parent. The Juvenile Justice Act 2015 too prescribes that all efforts must be made to keep siblings together, unless it is in the best interest of the child.
However, it has been clarified that the change being made will be a decision on a case-to-case basis and siblings will not be split as a norm. A detailed assessment by the Child Welfare Committee and CARA will determine if the siblings are to be separated even after a child agrees for adoption. There are over 80 sets of siblings accounting for 176 children in CARA’s adoption pool at present.
In keeping with the JJ Act, CARA has been placing siblings with the same family except in rare cases. “But this will now be changed,” women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi said on Tuesday. While children above five will have to give consent, CARA will assess the best interest in consultation with other stakeholders in case of younger ones, an official explained.
Gandhi justified the decision by citing a prospective parent’s complaint. “The woman was told she can’t have a child as it was a sibling. Now we have changed that to say that if it is a child above five, we’ll do what the child wants.”
Currently, siblings are adopted together. The JJ Act 2015 too prescribes that all efforts must be made to keep them together
Trends
2010-14: Trends
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.
January-March 2015: A rise in adoption rate
The Times of India, Jul 07 2015
Adoptions up first time in 3 yrs; 50k still need homes
A doption of children in the country has gone up for the first time in three years, reports Himanshi Dhawan. An awareness campaign and a bid to cut down red-tape in the process of adoption can be credited for the spike in numbers -from 999 in October-December, 2014 to 1,368 between January and March 2015. The number is a fraction of 50,000 orphans requiring homes, according to latest data available with the Central Adoption Resource Authority . It has only 1,200 children lined up for adoption against the demand from 10,000 parents. Of them, 9,000 are Indians, the rest NRIs or foreigners.
In February 2015, WCD minister Maneka Gandhi had pulled up adoption agencies for “idleness and deliberate lying and said the figures were “shameful“, adding she wanted 15,000 kids to find homes a year.
2011-16, year-wise
The Times of India, June 8, 2016
Himanshi Dhawan
Domestic adoptions have dropped by half, hitting a five-year low with only 3,011 children being adopted by Indian parents in 2015-16. The highest adoptions so far have been in 2011 when 5,964 children were adopted. Conversely , adoptions by foreigners are the highest in the past five years.In 2015-16, 666 children were adopted by foreign parents compared with 629 in 2011. Despite a burgeoning population of children in need of care, adoption levels continue to be low. In 2012-2013, 4,694 children were adopted domestically , which dropped to 3,924 the following year. In 2014-2015, domestic adoptions climbed marginally to 3,988 but have seen a downward spiral to 3,011 in 2015-2016.
Inter-country or adoptions by foreign nationals and NRIs have meanwhile increased. The number of adoptions in 2012-2013 was 308 which increased to 430 in 2013-2014, then dropped again to 374 in 2014-2015 before increasing to 666 in 2015-2016.
This data comes nearly a year after new adoption guidelines were introduced by the ministry of women and child development. The new guidelines on adoption that became effective from August 1, 2015 were expected to push domestic adoptions. Minister Maneka Gandhi had in fact given adoption agencies a target of 20,000 in August 2015.
However the system suffe red from several hiccups including NGOs like the Missionaries of Charity choosing to opt out of the adoption system and reluctance by many agencies to adapt to the online system. Officials said that organisations had dragged their feet in registering to the new online system CARINGS. “In some cases like Karnataka, the state has been actively working to register all agencies that are involved in adoption to streamline them. But some other states are indifferent to the process and that is reflected in the results, an official said.
Government sources said that the minister received dozens of complaints every day on the slow pace of adoption.
2016, state-wise
The Times of India, Aug 08 2016
Himanshi Dhawan
Maharashtra leads again in domestic adoptions
Maharashtra has been leading in domestic adoptions of children in India for 2013-16 even as the number of domestic adoptions has been steadily declining.
In 2016, between April and June, 800 children were adopted by Indian parents and 102 by foreigners, according to data from the Central Adoption Resource Authority, the central agency for adoption in India under the women and child development ministry .
Among states, Maharash tra has again topped with 159 kids adopted domestically and 26 internationally this year, followed by Bengal with 72 domestic adoptions and Odisha with 51domestic adoptions. Madhya Pradesh had the fourth largest do mestic adoption of children, with 50 kids being adopted till June this financial year, while Karnataka placed 44 children in domestic adoptions.
Last year (2015-2016), Maharashtra, followed by Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha and Tamil Nadu were the top five states in domestic adoptions. In 2013-2014, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were the top five states while in 2014-2015, the top states were Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Arunachal Pradesh has a poor record with no children adopted since 2013-2014 to date, except six domestic adoptions in 2014-2015.
The number of domestic adoptions has been declining while inter-country adoptions went up, even though recently amended guidelines seek to put Indian parents at an advantage. Domestic adoptions came down from 3,988 in 2014-2015 to 3,011 in 2015-2016.The number of children adopted from Maharashtra, for instance, came down from 1,068 in 2013-2014 to 947 in 20142015 and 724 in 2015-2016.
The amended guidelines for adoption of children which came into force in August 2015 include provisions for taking the entire process online, treating non-resident Indians at par with Indian parents, reducing the timeframe for completion of home study report from two months to one and authorising only specialised agencies for adoptions. However, the impact of the new provisions are yet to kick in.
Adoptions by foreigners
2015: adoption rooms for foreigners eased
Mar 27 2015
Centre eases adoption rules for foreigners
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.
Adoptions by foreign citizens with Indian husbands
The Times of India, Jul 17 2015
Rosy Sequeira
`American with Indian hubby can adopt kid'
An American woman's prayers to adopt a 6-year-old boy with special needs in India were answered when the Bombay high court directed a district court to quickly process the application of the adoption agency .
The woman, along with her Indian husband, had moved court after the Central Adoption Resource Authority , the nodal body for adoption of Indian children, refused to grant an NOC, saying it was an inter-country adoption matter and she was required to comply with a rule pertaining to adoption by foreigners living in India. The HC allowed the couple to retain foster care of the born, born to an unwed mother and kept at a Pune orphanage-cum-adop tion agency, Arun Aashray .
The American, a trained nurse living in India since 2008, had volunteered with the agency and got acquainted with the boy . The court was earlier informed that he faced rejection thrice and suffered from behavioural and health problems.
CARA's advocate D A Nalawade told a bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice B P Colabawalla that it will treat the matter as an “exceptional case“ and insisted it was an inter-country adoption issue.Nalavade argued the American will have to comply with a CARA rule for foreigners and apply to the US embassy for an NOC. He said that also applicable would be the order of priority (NRIs, followed by overseas citizens of India, persons of Indian origin and foreign nationals).
Creating awareness
September 2017/ "Jan Sampark" Program
Press Information Bureau, September 27, 2017
CARA launches monthly “Jan Sampark” Program to facilitate adoption
The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) of the Ministry of Women & Child Development has started a monthly “Jan Sampark” program to enable the public to have interaction with its officials and staff for seeking information related to Adoption as well as flagging their concerns.
The first of its kind programme was held in New Delhi yesterday. Nearly 150 Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs), Adoptive Parents and representatives of agencies participated in the session, which lasted for more than four hours.
Details pertaining to Immediate Placement and Special Needs Adoption Module of Child Adoption Resource Information & Guidance System (CARINGS) as well as the newly launched Grievance/Query portal were shared with all the stakeholders. Also many of the PAPs were counselled and motivated to go for adopting older children.
Different perspectives
Missionaries of Charity’s stand
The Times of India, Oct 14 2015
Govt can't force nuns to continue adoption work: Legal experts
A recent decision by the Missionaries of Charity (MoC) to discontinue adoption work
Lawyers, pointed out that no one had a right to force MoC -the Roman Catholic order founded by Mother Teresa 65 years ago -to continue adoptions. Though the Missionaries of Charity has not clearly specified its opposition to the single-parent rule, the release it issued did link the decision to the new adoption guidelines, under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 which came into effect from August 2015. The new rules require registration of every prospective parent online. The Central Adoption Resource Authority (Cara) then assigns them a registered adoption agency when their turn comes.
This means that the issue of “religion will now come to the fore, said Bharati Dasgupta of Catalysts for Social Action which works towards rehabilitation of abandoned, destitute children in Maharashtra. “Even earlier guidelines permitted adoption by single parents, but some agencies were perhaps not following that norm. Now that there is no escape route--due to centralized database of registration by adoptive parents--the MoC may have decided to opt out.“ But having said that, Dasgupta added that it was MoC's choice and no one could compel them to continue working as an adoption agency. “An agency cannot give precedence to religion over national laws or guidelines. But every agency needs to apply for renewal of its license regularly and the government authority can extend it or cancel it; similarly, the agency can choose to seek renewal or not.
Gender-wise
Girl child preferred
The Times of India, December 4, 2015
Himanshi Dhawan When it comes to adoptions, Indians prefer the girl child
The famed Indian preference for boys is turned on its head when it comes o adoption. It appears that when Indian parents, deprived of a child by nature, go seeking an offspring -it's usually for a girl. Data for the ast three years reveals that a significantly higher number of girls are adopted than boys.
According to Central Adoption Resource Author ty (CARA) records, 1,848 boys were adopted in 20122013 as compared to 2,846 girls. Total adoptions in the year were 4,694. Since then, adoptions declined in 2013 but he preference for girls has persisted. In 2013-2014, prospective parents adopted 2,293 girls as compared to 1,631 boys while in 2014-2015, 2,300 girls were adopted as compared to 1,688 boys. While total domestic adoptions have come down from 4,694 to 3,924 in 2013-2014, it has increased marginally to 3,988 this year.
While lesser availability of boys for adoption is a factor which could be driving this trend, it is also true that couples who have given up hope of having a child of their own do not mull too much over gender since adoption in India continues to be a long-drawn process.
However, the number of adoptions is still way below the demand. There are about 9,000 prospective parents registered with CARA. Adoption data however paints a dismal picture so far. The highest number of children adopted was 6,593 in 2011-2012. Since then, the numbers have steadily declined till this year. There are an estimated 50,000 children in need for a secure home and care and protection. Women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi has set an ambitious target of 15,000 adoptions for this year.
Gandhi has in recent times been severely critical of the functioning of adoption agencies. In fact, the ministry introduced fresh guidelines for adoption in August this year. The norms mandate all agencies involved to be registered online with a central database of children.
According to experts, one of the reasons why girls may be preferred for adoption could be the increasing number of single women keen to complete their family . “In case a single woman adopts, the preference is for a girl child,“ an NGO representative said.
Procedures
To reduce delays, DMs likely to get final say
In a move to prevent long delays in courts and expedite adoption, the ministry of women and child development (WCD) has prepared a proposal to delegate the power to give final approval for enabling adoption of a child to the district magistrate.
As of now civil courts have the power to enable adoption after due process. Data with the WCD ministry shows that an estimated 600 to 700 adoption cases are pending in civil courts, many of them for long.
The detailed proposal is currently under review of the ministry of law. If there is consensus between the two ministries, the proposal will need Cabinet approval and an amendment to the Juvenile Justice Act 2015.
When asked about the proposal, WCD secretary Rakesh Srivastava said that delay in approval in civil courts has prompted the ministry to explore the option of shifting the power to the level of the district magistrate. He pointed that it was felt that the civil courts were already burdened with a vast case load and often matters such as adoption keep getting delayed. “While the law stipulates a timeframe, the delay in approvals stretch way beyond the laid out time period. There are cases pending for years,” the WCD secretary said.
The change being sought pertains to section 2, sub section 23 of JJ Act. It is proposed to change the definition of “court” from “civil court” to “court of district magistrate”. The view in the WCD ministry is that the change will enable faster disposal of cases and also better scrutiny since the district magistrate is also incharge of the area and has access to all departments in case some verifications or field reports in a case are required urgently.
However, to effect this change may not be all that easy for it will require a significant nationwide shift from the existing system involving the role of civil courts in adoption. Also it is learnt that voluntary organisations, academicians and activists working in the field of child rights are planning to write to the WCD ministry asking it to reconsider the proposal.
The ministry of women and child development has prepared a proposal to delegate the power to give the final approval for adoption to the magistrate. As of now, civil courts have the power to enable adoption after the due process
