BENGALURU: In a loaded statement on child adoptions in the country, Bhavana Saxena, Member Secretary and CEO, Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), said, “Is there any loophole in the legal system? We need to find out where the orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children are ending up.
Why is the registration in the State Adoption Resource Centre and Child Care Institutions so low? Last year, in India, there were only 4,515 adoptions. It is a low figure though it is the highest in the last ten years. Are there leakages in the legal system through which these children are falling into the hands of traffickers? It is time that various departments work together and fix this issue.”
She said on Saturday, “33,000 prospective parents have registered on the official website and are waiting to adopt. But barely 2,000 children who are in various child care institutions are Legally Free for Adoption (LFA). It is shocking to see such statistics and figures in a country of 1.3 billion people. These are unreasonable figures.”
She was speaking at the state-level adoptive families and Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAP) meet organised by the Directorate of Child Protection on the theme, ‘Adoption of Children with Special Needs’, at Bal Bhavan in Bengaluru.
She suggested that the responsibilities of stakeholders, including Children Welfare Committees, District Child Protection Officers, Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAA) and Child Care Institutions, are clearly laid down in the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
Couples usually want to adopt kids below 2 years
“Specialised adoption agencies and CWCs must identify children who are abandoned, orphaned or have had no visitation from relatives and bring them under the ambit of LFA. CWCs must see that these children are listed on referral sites where prospective parents have registered,” Bhavana Saxena, Member Secretary and CEO, Central Adoption Resource Authority said.
“Most parents want to adopt a child who below 2 years or maximum four years old. If the CCIs and CWCs don’t adhere to the timelines, the child will grow and no parent would be ready to adopt them. Many older children are still in CCIs. Make sure that once children come to CCIs, they are declared LFA within two to four months,” she said and advised SAAs to work with the Women and Child Development and Health departments to make policies that address the medical and other requirements of children.