DOS India: New Requirements for Adoptive Parents UPDATED

January 12, 2018

India’s Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) announced that it has started requesting additional information from prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) applying to adopt a child habitually resident in India.

• Enhanced Home Study Report Requirements:

CARA announced in a November 27, 2017 circular that Home Study Reports for the dossier submitted to CARA must include a professional psychological evaluation of the (PAPs).

A licensed/trained practicioner must prepare a psychological evaluation of the PAPs with a definitve recommendation as a section or an annex of the home study report. The practicioner must include an interview of the PAPs lasting from 35 to 40 minutes and speak to their motivation, temperament, stress tolerance, frustration tolerance, emotional stability, and decision making ability. CARA also will require the report to incorporate an assessment of the PAPs’ relationship with extended family, and non-relatives who may have close contact with the child.

This new requirement will apply to any case in which the PAPs did not receive a No Objection Certificate.

• Passport Documentation:

CARA announced in a separate circular that as of November 24, 2017, it will require families to submit their Certificate of Conformity under Article 23 of the Hague Adoption Convention with an Indian Passport Application for a child.

For more details, please consult the circulars published on CARA’s website. Should adoption service providers or adoptive families have any questions or concerns, please email the Office of Children’s Issues at adoption@state.gov or the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi at NDAdopt@state.gov.”

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: From here:”

Information about FSP agreements was previously disseminated and posted on our website on October 5, 2018. That guidance is repeated below with one clarification in bold italics. 

In mid-May 2018, the Department of State and India’s Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) discussed the obligations of U.S. accredited adoption service providers (referred to as ASPs in the United States and as AFAAs in India) under applicable U.S. and Indian Regulations. Topics included the registration of ASP representative(s) or agent(s) with CARA, ASP contact with orphanages, ASP foreign supervised provider agreements, and fees paid by adoptive families in India.

CARA’s guidelines require an ASP to obtain CARA’s approval if the ASP intends to use a representative/agent to work on its behalf in India. Failure to obtain CARA’s approval before using a representative/agent may lead CARA to terminate the ASP’s authorization to work in India.  To comply with 22 CFR § 96.46(b), the ASP must have a foreign supervised provider agreement with its representative/agent unless they are an employee of the agency.

CARA informed the Department that ASPs should not have contact with orphanages in India before a referral of the child to the Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) is reserved for acceptance by the ASP through CARINGS (CARA’s database for adoptions in India). However, once a referral is reserved, the ASP may have contact with the orphanage.

The Department and CARA are continuing discussions on supervised provider agreements between ASPs and orphanages in India. CARA expects ASPs to follow their recent circular on fees in addition to all applicable laws and to stay current on India’s Adoption Regulations. U.S. regulations for ASPs also provide that ASPs are to comply with the laws of the countries in which they operate, and failure to adhere to India’s laws could affect an ASP’s accreditation or approval under U.S. law.

CARA would like to remind ASPs that review and approval of home studies as well as post-adoption reports performed by exempted providers in the United States will be the responsibility of the ASP and that it will hold the ASP responsible for any failure on the part of the exempted provider to adequately assess the PAPs or provide all available information about the eligibility or suitability of the PAPs. If CARA determines that the ASP failed to adequately review and approve home studies or post-adoption reporting, it may withdraw the provider’s authorization to work in India.”