Illegal Adoptions From India

“The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), an autonomous body under the ministry of women and child development for overseeing adoption of children separated from biological parents, rung the alarm bells early this week over the mushrooming illegal adoption networks that do not follow its strict guidelines.

It has issued a notice against the illegalities resorted to adopt children after noticing that many couples drop out after registering with the authorised centres for adopting children even. One reason for dropout may be that the waiting list at these centres keeps growing, but CARA suspects that many withdraw their request because of acquiring the child illegally.

It noted that there is also drop in the number of children reaching the adoption centres for the legal adoption as the most may be going into the illegal networks, making mockery of the institutionalised care guaranteed to such children.

In a public notice in newspapers on Monday, addressed to all hospitals, maternity homes and nursing homes, the nodal body governing all adoptions in the country instructed them to turn over any abandoned child to the local police station, an authorised agency or the child welfare committee.

“No person or institution shall run an adoption agency or carry out adoption, placement of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children without a certificate of recognition from the competent authority,” the notice added.

In another advertisement, CARA cautioned parents: “Do not hand over the child to any unauthorised person.” For adoptive parents, too, the agency had a word of caution: “Always adopt from a government-recognised adoption agency.”

However, if a couple wants to adopt an infant in India legally, it will have to wait for long as the queues are much longer than five years ago.

For two infants in the 0-2 years age group available for adoption in Haryana, there are 169 couples waiting.

For 20 such children in West Bengal, there are 597 couples waiting. For 12 infants in Delhi, the number of couples waiting are 750. In Maharashtra, which has the highest number of children in this age group at 225, there are 508 couples on the waiting list.

These statistics are compiled by CARA reflect the dwindling number of infants in adoption centres. Five years ago, the average ratio across the country would be around 60 infants to 100 prospective parents.”

Alarm Bells As Illegal Adoption Networks Mushroom![Free Press Journal 1/23/15 by FPI]

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