Maneka to write to all CMs expressing dissatisfaction on functioning of Child Welfare Committees

More than 1800 adoption cases are pending across the country, with Tamil Nadu accounting for 132 of them. Maharashtra has the largest number of pending adoption cases, according to data unveiled by the Women and Child Development Ministry.

NEW DELHI: More than 1800 adoption cases are pending across the country, with Tamil Nadu accounting for 132 of them. Maharashtra has the largest number of pending adoption cases, according to data unveiled by the Women and Child Development Ministry.

Out of the total 1811 pending adoption cases in the country, a total of 470 cases are pending for more than one year. The largest number of pending adoption cases are in Maharashtra (439) followed by Madhya Pradesh (151), Tamil Nadu (132), West Bengal (176), Uttar Pradesh (126) and Delhi (107).

The large number of pending cases has forced Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi to write to all chief ministers expressing her dissatisfaction on the functioning of Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) in the states, which have failed to give clearances to the adoption cases, sources said.

Gandhi also personally spoke to ministers in-charge of Women and Child Development in all states asking them to get these cases disposed off by the respective CWCs within a fortnight.

She said that this work should actually be done in a “no-delay mode” by the CWC so that the children can be declared legally free and are placed with a family through adoption process of CARA which now is working through an automatic and fast system of CARINGS.

Before a child is made available for adoption under the CARA system, it has to be declared “legally free for adoption” by the respective Child Welfare Committee. Child Welfare Committees have been constituted in almost all districts of the country and they are supposed to look after all the cases of child protection including the cases of adoption.

The revised adoption guidelines, notified by the ministry under the Juvenile Justice Act, prescribe strict timelines within which all the steps required to be taken for placing a child with a family are to be completed. These timelines are to be followed by the all agencies involved including CWCs, State Adoption agencies, Child Care institutions, Courts among others.

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