In India, there is a significant disparity between the number of orphaned children and the number of children available for adoption. While there are three crore orphaned children in the country, only 3,500 to 4,000 children are available for adoption each year. This leaves approximately 30,000 prospective parents waiting for up to three years to bring a child home.
The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, recently expressed concern over the stalling of adoptions by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). He questioned why CARA was not taking action to expedite the adoption process, considering the large number of children awaiting adoption. These remarks were made during a Supreme Court hearing on two petitions that highlighted the gaps and delays in the adoption process.
CARA, a statutory body under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, is responsible for monitoring and regulating in-country and inter-country adoptions. Its main focus is on the adoption of orphaned, abandoned, and surrendered children through recognized adoption agencies. However, due to red tape and lack of transparency, many children are being deprived of a home and the love of parents.
With each passing month, the chances of adoptability and adaptability for these children diminish as they grow older. Prospective parents also suffer from this delay, as they spend precious years navigating cumbersome paperwork and visiting various adoption centers. The conditions of the shelter homes where these children are placed are often unhygienic, with limited funds and staff.
Deepak Sharma, a Trustee at Udayan Care, an NGO for Child Rights, explains that while his organization does not face funding challenges, some shelters in India struggle due to their location and available resources. Funding for these institutions comes from government funding, individual and corporate donations, international organizations, foundations, and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Adoptions in India are governed by two laws, the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA), and the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, 2015. Each law has its own eligibility criteria for adoptive parents. Prospective parents applying under the Juvenile Justice Act must register on CARA’s portal and undergo a home study report conducted by a specialized adoption agency. Once deemed eligible, they are referred to a child who has been declared legally free for adoption.
CARA carries out this thorough process to ensure the safety of adoptive children and protect them from potential abuse by adoptive parents. However, recent amendments to the JJ Act, which aimed to enhance accountability and speed up the adoption process, have not fully achieved their intended purpose. The lack of a time limit for the transfer of pending adoption cases to District Magistrates may result in further delays. Prospective parents also have concerns about the legal entitlements of their adopted child in terms of succession and inheritance rights.
In 2022, a parliamentary standing committee expressed concerns about the declining number of children coming to adoption agencies, suggesting the presence of a thriving illegal child adoption market or trafficking. It is evident that many unregistered adoption agencies are operating in the country, engaging in illegal and unregulated adoptions and potentially exploiting vulnerable children and their biological and adoptive parents.
Typically, there is a shorter waiting list for older children, children with special needs, or children from specific regions. CARA has introduced a new category called “Children for Immediate Placement,” which significantly reduces the wait time for prospective parents.
While there is generally a demand for newborns and younger children in the adoption process, CARA is now advocating for the adoption of older children as well. However, the adoption process remains challenging for many prospective parents. Some feel that adoption agencies give preference to candidates who are financially better off, leading to longer waiting times and limited support from counselors.
There is an urgent need to streamline the adoption process in India, simplify paperwork, ensure transparency, and reduce waiting times. Loopholes, doubts, and ambiguities in current legislation must be addressed to ensure that thousands of children do not continue to languish in shelter homes without love, care, and education.
