FP Explainers • April 2, 2024, 20:46:26 IST
India saw 4,009 adoptions between April 2023 and March 2024, as per the government data. While this is a positive sign, there are many hurdles that make adopting a child a complicated process for prospective parents
An Indian child cries in its crib at Palna - one of Delhi's oldest adoption agencies and orphanages on on 26 June 2015. AFP File Photo
India has crossed the 4,000-adoption mark for the first time in five years. According to the latest government figures, around 4,009 children were adopted between April 2023 and March 2024, reported Times of India (TOI).
Of these, 3,560 kids were adopted in India and 449 were inter-country adoptions, TOI reported citing the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), the central government’s nodal agency for adoptions.
Let’s take a closer look.
India’s adoption figures
India’s adoption numbers fell during the pandemic. In 2018-19, about 4,027 children were adopted. The numbers plunged in the COVID-19 years to reach 3,405 in 2021-22. About 3,441 kids were adopted in 2022-23.
This figure has finally crossed the 4,000 mark which is a positive sign.
According to the TOI report, CARA has included ‘foster adoption’ as a category under adoption . So far, 10 children are living in foster adoption across India.
In foster care, children above the age of six are temporarily placed in an approved alternative domestic environment other than the kid’s biological family, noted Business Standard.
The nodal agency is also taking steps to expedite the adoption process for relatives willing to adopt an orphaned child in their family or prospective parents wanting to take on their stepchildren, TOI reported.
While the rise in adoption figures is heartening, there’s still much need to worry.
As of Monday (1 April), 33,809 prospective adoptive parents are willing to adopt children, TOI reported citing CARA data. However, only 2,141 children – 731 in the ‘normal category’ and 1,410 in ‘special needs’ – are legally available for adoption.
This gap is far resigned from India’s reality. As per a 2020 report by the Istanbul-based humanitarian organisation Insamer, India has 31 million (3.1 crore) orphans but just 50,000 are eligible for adoption, reported Deutsche Welle (DW).
UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children Report found that 29.6 million (2.96 crore) children were orphaned in India in 2014. However, as per CARA, not even 500,000 make it to institutionalised care and just 3000 to 4,000 get adopted every year, ThePrint noted.
Over 200,000 children are estimated to be living in 7,000 childcare institutions (CCIs) in India.
Children play carom at an orphanage in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, on 29 May 2008. Reuters File Photo
As per the data shared by Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani in Rajya Sabha in July 2023, India saw a 25 per cent surge in the number of orphaned, abandoned, and surrendered children over the last three years. The number was 4,521 in 2020-21, increasing to 5,106 in 2021-22 and further jumping to 5,663 in 2022-23, PTI reported.
Why does this happen?
India’s lengthy adoption process makes it hard for prospective parents to adopt. It takes at least two years to adopt a child in the country.
First, a prospective parent must register and upload nine relevant documents on the Child Adoption Resource Information & Guidance System (CARINGS), an online platform under CARA. After this, a social worker and a protection officer from the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) visit the home of the prospective parent.
Then a waiting number is allotted to get a match as per the parent’s preference, according to Mid-Day.
After a prospective parent chooses a child from the profiles of children shared by adoption agencies, the matter is then considered by a district magistrate (DM).
Those willing to adopt have to wait at least two years before they are matched with a child.
As per the amended Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Amendment Act, District Magistrates are authorised to issue adoption orders instead of district courts.
The amendment, which came into effect in September 2022, aims to reduce the time from the stage when a child becomes legally free for adoption to the matching process with prospective parents.
However, some question the move over ensuring the child’s safety. A Mumbai-based adoption lawyer told Mid-Day that the government is seeking to fast-track the adoption process for parents but what is “being ignored here is the safety, welfare and interest of the child/adoptee”.
A child writes at an orphanage in Kolkata, West Bengal on 29 May 2008. Reuters File Photo
The process of adopting a child is also emotionally taxing for many. Prospective parents blame adoption authorities for a lack of support during the process.
“There are delays and uncertainty of referrals. Besides, there is lack of information and transparency from CARA. All this has a mental, financial, and emotional impact on adoptive families,” Parul Agarwal, a media professional, told DW in 2022.
There are not many children legally available for adoption as the ratio of orphaned or abandoned children to those in institutionalised care is quite uneven.
As per ThePrint report, many in India are also unwilling to adopt due to “social stigmas of caste, class and genetics”. Families do not want to adopt a child whose parental lineage is not known.
While infertility is rising in India, couples still shy away from adoption and look for other ways to get pregnant such as surrogacy or In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), the report added. This attitude needs to change.
Even when people are willing to adopt, they do not want to take on a ‘special needs’ kid. Data shows that prospective parents usually prefer a “healthy” child younger than two years.
Speaking to DW in 2022, Satyajeet Mazumdar, the advocacy head of Catalysts for Social Action (CSA), an NGO working in adoption and child protection, said that India should conduct an exercise periodically to identify vulnerable children requiring care and protection and refer them to the Child Welfare Committees (CWC).
“This would lead to identification of children who are orphans, along with children whose parents want to surrender them, who can then be declared legally free for adoption”.
He said there must be “dedicated” campaigns “to encourage people to adopt older children and children with special needs”, DW reported.
With inputs from agencies
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