BENGALURU: Adoption is not the last option but a choice of how you want to make your family, says a group of adoptive parents, For and Of Heart Baby.
Founded in 2014 by friends Swarna Venkataraman and Srobona Das, the online platform discusses anything and everything about adoption.
Co-founder Swarna says, “We are adoptive mothers. I adopted a son and Srobona adopted a girl. I was part of a mother’s group and realised there was no proper guidance available. There are lot of questions adoptive parents have and we needed a specialised platform to help and support each other. The questions were not just on the adoption process but also about the emotional process that one goes through.” The group discusses how to deal with the society because many still consider adoption a stigma.
There are 600 members from across the cities like Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and Chennai on the platform and more than 900 members waiting for their membership approval. The group is open to adoptive parents and parents who are looking to adopt.
Single parents can register too. Swarna says, “We have a very stringent process to select the members. When we get a request, we send them a questionnaire to fill in. If the parent has already adopted, we ask for the adoption agency and check with our compilation if it is valid and then select the member. If a person wants to adopt, we ask several questions to understand what stage he is in the adoption process.”
The members discuss their experiences and help each other. She adds, “Starting the group has been the best decision we made. Even simple questions relating to documentations and relationship get answered... People have questions on documents required for adoption, the legal procedure, agencies that need to be approached and discussing the choice with friends.”
Members discuss the subject and recent trends too. The members have written several letters and e-mails to the CARA and PMO about the legislations. She says, “There have been recent amendments on the maternity leave case. You will get 12-week leave on par with the maternity break if the baby is less than three months old but legal adoption takes a minimum of three months. There is a lot of paperwork involved.”
The group celebrated their first anniversary in November last year where 40 children got together with their parents for a meetup. There were 23-year-old adopted children too who came forward and spoke about their families and how they felt no different in their homes, she says. Some members have become friends and they meet offline too. According to her, about two to three parents have adopted a child every month in a span of a year. It could be attributed to more transparency of CARA.
She says, “CARA has become more transparent now. There is a process in place and data is available online. It has led to better understanding of the process and the time taken to adopt a child has also reduced to six months or so. Earlier, there used to be long queues for adoption and it would take two to three years to get the custody of the child. Some give up in the middle of the process after waiting for long. Now, many things have been streamlined.”