New India Adoption Guidelines: 80% of Adoptions to be Domestic UPDATED
“The Bombay high court has directed the ministry of women and child development (WCD) to notify the `Guidelines governing the adoption of children, 2011′ by June 27. The guidelines assume significance in the wake of the issues that arose from the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI), in 2007, into the alleged irregularities by a Pune-based adoption agency.
The new guidelines, framed by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), are aimed at streamlining the adoption process, facilitating expeditious adoption of children and ensuring that the source of each child is verified prior to placement for adoption.
The CARA is an autonomous body under the WCD ministry, responsible for regulating and monitoring adoption of Indian children.
The guidelines also provide for a mandatory clause relating to 80% of the children to be adopted within the country instead of the earlier 50:50 ratio for in-country and inter-country adoptions. Besides, they propose norms for children with special needs to ensure more efficient placements and make it mandatory that orphan and abandoned children be allowed to be adopted internationally under the Juvenile Justice Act. ”
HC demands notification on adoption
[Times of India 6/8/11 by Vishwas Kothari]
Other REFORM Talk posts about India can be found here.
Update: The US DOS has issued a statement that can be found here and is pasted below. Not surprisingly it fails to mention the significant shift to domestic adoptions from the past 50/50 to a new 20/80 international to domestic ratio.
“Notice: CARA Announces Release of New Guidelines and Temporary Suspension of Acceptance of New Dossiers
CARA recently released new guidelines for intercountry adoptions. Please visit CARA’s website at http://www.adoptionindia.nic.in/ for further information.
CARA also recently announced a temporary freeze on the acceptance of new adoption dossiers as it attempts to clear a backlog of cases pending from before implementation of new guidelines governing intercountry adoptions in India. CARA foresees lifting the suspension by approximately the end of September 2011 and will advise when they are ready to accept new dossiers. We will update the notice promptly. Applications that are already in process prior to the effective date of the new guidelines will proceed as normal.
Please note that the new guidelines direct that after September 30, 2011, all dossiers must be forwarded to CARA. CARA will no longer accept any dossier through a RIPA.
If you have any questions about the details of the guidelines or suspension, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone at 1-888-407-4747 or e-mail us at adoptionUSCA@state.gov.”
Update 2: DOS issues another update. The dossier submission suspension has been extended to December 31, 2011. The notice can be seen here and is pasted below:
“Notice: Update on CARA’s Temporary Suspension of Acceptance of New Dossiers
This is an update to our notice dated July 22, 2011 announcing a temporary suspension on the acceptance of new intercountry adoption cases in India. CARA informed us that they will not accept new adoption applications until December 31, 2011.
CARA is giving priority to processing applications started before the release of the new guidelines before accepting new applications. We will update the notice promptly once CARA notifies us when they are ready to receive new applications.
CARA’s latest announcement reiterated that all dossiers must be forwarded to CARA under the new guidelines. CARA will no longer accept any dossier through a RIPA.
If you have any questions about the details of the guidelines or suspension, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone at 1-888-407-4747 or e-mail us at adoptionUSCA@state.gov.”
Update 3: DOS issued a notice on November 20, 2012 about freezing of US applications. They still do not acknowledge that this fits in with India’s goal that was set in 2011. See here and pasted below:
“Applications
Effective December 1, 2012, India will not accept new applications for intercountry adoptions from the United States. or other foreign adoption service providers until further notice, in order to clear a backlog of existing cases.
Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) will continue to process applications registered prior to December 1, 2012. We will provide an update when CARA begins accepting new applications.”
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update 4: DOS issues another alert partially lifting suspension on applications.
See the alert here and pasted below:
“India Partially Lifts Suspension on Acceptance of New Adoption Applications
This Adoption Notice is a follow up to the Notice of November 30, 2012.
The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) informed us that it is accepting new applications for intercountry adoptions from prospective adoptive parents in foreign countries, including the United States, seeking to adopt children habitually resident in India. CARA will accept applications for children that CARA classifies as having special needs, e.g., children with a physical or mental disability, children older than five years of age, and children with twin siblings. For more information, please see CARA’s website .
CARA indicates it may be another two to three months before it can resume accepting adoption applications for children who are habitually resident in India, but are not classified as having special needs.
CARA will continue to process applications registered prior to December 1, 2012. We will provide an update when CARA begins accepting new applications for children habitually resident in India who are not classified as having special needs.”
Update 5: UAE reports the backlog of their residents trying to adopt from India.
“Adoptions from India to the UAE have come to a standstill because the federal agency for adoptions in India has frozen all new overseas applications, XPRESS can reveal.
Dubai-based Omana Menon, the authorised foreign adoption agent (AFAA) dealing with overseas Indian adoptions in the Gulf, confirmed this week that she has not sent any new applications to the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) in New Delhi since last November.
She said the federal body has put on hold all new inter-country adoption applications until further notice in order to clear a backlog of cases.
Menon, who has prepared home study reports (HSRs) for around 1,500 adoptions in the Gulf over the last 27 years, said she has more than 20 applications with complete dossiers pending with her since November.
In addition, she has at least 50 names on the waiting list.
Menon said she had sent 68 applications to CARA last year, but the adoption formalities have been completed in only six cases so far. “The remaining applications are stuck in various stages of the revised adoption process,” she said.
NEW GUIDELINES
The overseas adoption process was revised by CARA in July 2011 when it issued new guidelines and created a new online registration system. Under new rules, prospective adoptive parents can no longer directly approach an orphanage or adoption agency in India with an HSR to choose a child. All HSRs are now required to be sent by the AFAA to CARA which refers them to a selection committee which in turn matches the parents with a Registered Indian Placement Agency (RIPE). The parents can only indicate a preferred geography or city for the agency.
The new rules have also stipulated a monthly quota system for adoptions and increased the inter-country adoption fee from $3,500 (Dh12,855) to $5,000.
Menon said: “Several applications from the UAE are lying with the RIPEs which are finding it difficult to get children. Some applications have even been returned on the grounds that they could not find a match.”
She said prospective adoptive parents are angry and frustrated as there is little progress with their applications. “This is a very fragile issue and they keep coming back to me with questions. But I have no answers. CARA must be doing what it can at its end but is that sufficient? Surely, there must be some way out of this crisis.”
International adoptions from India, both by foreigners and Indians living abroad, are governed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development’s Guidelines on Adoption of Children 2011 in line with powers under Section 41 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000.
Prospective parents said a step intended to streamline adoptions has become a stumbling block instead. “I am completely put off by this new process. From what I hear, there’s so much red tape,” said one of them.”
Adoptions from India at standstill after country freezes overseas service to clear backlog
[Gulf News 6/19/13 by Sharmila Dhal]
Update 6: A new notice regarding India December 3, 2013
“Notice: Informing the Government of India When an Adopted Indian Child Acquires U.S. Citizenship
Reminder to Notify CARA When Child Adopted from India Acquires U.S. Citizenship
The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has requested the Department of State’s assistance in reminding U.S. adoption service providers with India programs of their obligation to inform CARA when a child adopted from India acquires U.S. citizenship.
CARA is concerned about the citizenship status of children who entered the United States with IR-4 and IH-4 immigrant visas, based on a guardianship order issued by an Indian court, with the intent to complete an adoption in the prospective adoptive parents’ state of residence.
An adopted child who entered the United States with an IR-4 immigrant visa prior to February 27, 2001, and was adopted in a U.S. state court but did not obtain a Certificate of Citizenship from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, may still be a lawful permanent resident of the United States.
Non-U.S. citizens may face difficulty obtaining educational scholarships, qualifying for certain jobs, and enjoying other rights and privileges of citizenship. A lawful permanent resident might also be subject to removal from the United States if convicted of certain crimes or if other grounds of removal apply. For more information, please see After Your Child Enters the United States.
Indian Law Regarding Possession of an Indian Passport Upon Acquisition of U.S. Citizenship
Acquisition of U.S. citizenship under the Child Citizenship Act (CCA) might affect the child’s Indian citizenship rights. Under Indian law, the child might be required to surrender his or her passport and could be subject to penalties for failure to do so. Under Indian law, prior to obtaining any Indian consular services such as an Indian visa, the child might also be required to renounce his or her Indian citizenship. Please contact the nearest Indian embassy or consulate for details. Please refer to the Indian Embassy website for contact information.
Please continue to monitor adoption.state.gov for updated information concerning adoptions in India.”
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