Adoption rules and regulations in India
- Through the process of adoption, a person can take on the role of parent to a child who is not biologically their own, granting the adopted child legal parent-child status and all the rights, obligations, and privileges that come with being a biological child.
Adoption Motivations
- To overcome infertility.
- To become parents
- To assist a needy child.
- To avoid difficulties during pregnancy.
- To avoid the transmission of genetic abnormalities or diseases.
- Concern about children.
- To keep population increases in check.
The Adoption process in India
Adoption in the country is governed by three laws:
- Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs are covered by the 1956 Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA).
- According to this statute, the adoption is final and gives the child all the rights and status of a natural born child, including the right to inherit property.
- For Muslims, Parsis, Christians, and Jews, adoption is governed by the Guardian and Wards Act of 1890.
- As per the GAWA, the relationship established upon adoption is limited to that of guardian and ward.
- Unlike HAMA, adoption under GAWA does not grant the adopted child child status.
- In place of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000, there is a new law that was passed in 2015. All citizens of India are covered by it.
- It allows for the adoption of two identically matched children. It confers status on parents and children instead of guardians and wards.
- The adopted child is also given the same rights as the biological child.
- Specifically, it provides a comprehensive framework for the adoption of orphans, abandoned children, and surrendered children both domestically and internationally.
Other major legislations are:
- In India, the nodal agency for overseeing and regulating both domestic and international adoptions is the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), a statutory body under the Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry.
- Through its affiliated or recognized agencies, CARA regulates the adoption of children who are orphaned (parents have died), abandoned (parents have deserted), and surrendered (parents have formally given up custody).
- First Amendment Adoption Regulations for 2021: The 2017 Adoption Regulations are altered by it.
- The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (2 of 2016) notified the revision, which amends the Adoption Regulations, 2017.
- Stricter and more streamlined child protection regulations are the goals of the recently passed Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2021. It states that the District Magistrate (including the Additional District Magistrate) shall issue such adoption orders, not the court.
- In addition, India ratified the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption in 1993 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992 and 2003, respectively.
- In a centralized Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS), CARA manages a database of children and registers potential parents.
Who is eligible for adoption?
- An orphan, abandoned, or surrendered child who has been certified legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) may be adopted under the terms of the JJ Act 2015.
- The Juvenile Justice Act of 2015 defines a relative’s child as a paternal uncle or aunt, a maternal uncle or aunt, or the child of paternal and maternal grandparents.
- Offspring from a prior union relinquished by the original parent (s).
Who can adopt?
- In accordance with the Ministry of Women and Child Development’s Adoption Regulations 2017 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015:
- Stable in terms of body, mind, and finances, and free from any physical or medical emergencies
- Married couple: two years of continuous marriage with both spouses’ consent; the combined age of the married couple cannot be more than 110 years.
- A single man is not able to adopt a girl child, but a single woman is able to adopt a child of any gender. The age of a single parent cannot be more than 55.
- There should be a minimum of 25 years between the child and each potential adoptive parent.
- Age restrictions do not apply in adoptions involving related parties or stepparents.
- Unless they are adopting children with special needs or who are challenging to place, couples with three or more children are not taken into consideration.
- In addition to Indian nationals who live in the nation, foreign parents and Indian citizens living abroad are also eligible to adopt children from India.
- The maximum composite age for adopting a child under four years old is 45 for single parents and 90 for couples.
- The maximum composite age for a couple adopting a child older than four is 100, while the maximum age for a single parent adopting a child younger than four is 50.
- The maximum age for a couple adopting a child between the ages of eight and eighteen is fifty-nine, and for a single PAP, it is fifty-five.
Observations of the Parliament panel
Issues
- In the past five years, adoption waiting times have increased from a year to three years.
- Some foster children may not want to be adopted due to their personal experiences with their original family.
- There are issues when adopted children are later returned to their biological families.
- Widespread fraud and international adoption schemes have been reported.
- In 2018, Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Ranchi faced criticism for their alleged “baby-selling racket” following the admission of a nun who had sold four children.
- There is a significant discrepancy between the number of people seeking to adopt and the quantity of children available for adoption under the law.
- Of the 27,939 prospective parents registered with CARA as of 2021, only 2,430 children were eligible for adoption by Child Welfare Committees under the law.
Recommendations by the panel
- The panel has decided that it is inappropriate for a District Magistrate, an administrative authority, to issue adoption orders in place of a judicial body.
- Consistent and comprehensive legislation that is less bureaucratic, more responsible, transparent, verifiable, and applicable to all people, regardless of faith, is required.
- The LGBTQ community should be protected by the new legislation.
- New laws should not use the word “illegitimate,” and adoption procedures should apply to all children, regardless of whether they are born into or out of wedlock.
- To ensure that abandoned and orphaned children are brought before the Child Welfare Committee as soon as possible and made available for adoption, a monthly meeting chaired by the DM should be organized.
- In India, adoption rates will rise in tandem with the number of orphaned children and infertility cases. India has taken a number of preventative measures in response to this issue, but a number of obstacles are preventing adoption and the comfort of adopted children.
- To address these issues, India needs to create new policies and update existing ones. It’s necessary to take a multifaceted approach and have conversations with all parties.
- A thorough review of the various regulations governing the adoption procedure should help to streamline the process. To learn more about the obstacles that would-be parents face, the ministry can speak with qualified experts in this area.