HYDERABAD: Single women, men and families who want to adopt are forced to wait for years in Telangana.
The number of in-country adoptions from the State’s largest home for children, Shishu Vihar, plummeted in 2019 owing to the dearth of children for adoption.
According to official data, only 26 children were available for adoption that year.
This is a very small number compared to the 215 (and more) children — in the age group of 0 to 4 — seeking shelter.
In 2018, the total number of children adopted from the centre was 38, while the year before, it was 58.
Why then the dramatic fall in numbers? Though the number of children under government care is increasing substantially, many of them are not legally available for adoption.
“A majority of the children in these homes belong to single parents or have extended families who are unable to take care of the child. They usually don’t want to lose the legal rights over the child, and as a result, don’t consent to giving up their rights. Even though the kids are under the State’s care, they are not legally-fit for adoption,” said an official from the Women Development and Child Welfare Department.
This, in turn, means an endless and hopeless wait for prospective parents. “We had applied for the adoption of a child in 2018 and were under waiting list number 3000. We have now been moved up to number 200.
"While we understand the cause of this wait, the officials from the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) make no effort to make this period easier for us,” said Sunanda (name changed), a 38-year-old woman.
An officer of the DCPU from one of the districts shares a similar story. “A man had visited us this month asking us how much longer it would take him to get a baby. He has been on the list for the last four years for a baby boy and has been on waiting list number 2 for last three months. We have no answers for him,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, doctors say that the situation will only worsen in the coming years owing to rising rates of infertility.