BHUBANESWAR: For the orphaned and abandoned children living in child care institutions in Odisha, the recent amendment of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act making adoption process simpler and faster has brought big hope of finding homes and parental love.
The changes in the law by the Centre has transferred the power of authorising adoptions from judiciary to district collectors, making the process less time consuming and hassle-free.Currently, 129 children (50 boys and 69 girls) in the State have been declared legally free for adoption. Similarly, 67 children with special needs (30 boys and 37 girls) are awaiting adoption, according to the State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA) of the State Women and Child Development (WCD) department.
Usually, children in the age group of 0 to 2 years are the most preferred for adoption in the State. Of the children legally ready for adoption, five normal and four with special needs are in the age group of 0 to 2, while the highest number of 117 children (97 normal and 20 differently-abled) are in the age group of 14 to 18.
Child rights activists, however, state that the number of children legally ready for adoption must be much more. Prior to Covid-19 outbreak, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR) had identified 33,000 orphans in the State. Of them, around 8,700 are housed in child care institutions. During the pandemic, nearly 25,000 children were orphaned.
There are 33 Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAA) under WCD department through which children are adopted. Usually the adoption process takes a minimum of three years and is entirely online.SARA statistics reveal that as many as 2,056 prospective adoptive parents are currently registered to adopt children in the age group of 0 to 2 years, 191 parents for children in the age group of 2 to 4 years and 402 parents are waiting to adopt a child in the age group of 4 to 6. However, there are no applicants for adopting children in the age bracket of 14 to 18.
According to the Central Adoption Resource Authority, 150 (65 boys and 85 girls) children of Odisha were adopted within the country from April 2021 to March 2022. The number was 28 (10 boys and 18 girls) in case of inter-country adoptions from the State.
Earlier, after completion of all the formalities, the adoptive parent/s were required to approach the family or civil courts to get the final approval which made it a lengthy process. Although the Juvenile Justice Act mandates that adoption cases should be disposed of within two months of filing of the application, it has never been the case, sources added.