This Blog is written by Maanya Singh, a Fourth-Year Law Student of Jaipur National University

One of the biggest life changes for a child and an adopting parent. Adopting is one of the major life changes both for the child as well as parents. These laws are mostly the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and the Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children 2005. Protection of Children Act 2015, whereas the regulation by the Central adoption agency is through CARA-Adoption FAQ central adoption Resource Agency looks after the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

1. Legal Framework for Adoption

Adoption in India is regulated under two major legal frameworks: Hindu adoption is governed under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act of 1956 and Christian adoption falls under the Guardian and Wards Act of 1899 of the Indian Constitution.
• Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA): More so, the given concepts can be of great concern to Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. As it can be seen and agreed, this act like most of the developed countries does allow both married persons and single persons to adopt but with conditions.
• Other provisions that are made by the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 are as follows: Adoption rights were given to all the people without any restriction of religion through CARA. At least it permits a more rather likely and more well-regulated flow across at least the boundaries of different religions.
On the other hand, HAMA is concerned with the religious sects of India, the Juvenile Justice Act is concerned with every citizen in India and the Act empowers in adoption of orphans, and abandoned and surrendered children.

2. Eligibility Criteria

The first step in the adoption process is understanding the eligibility criteria, as defined by CARA:

• Adoptive Parents:
◦ Must be in good health, mentally stable, and should have the financial capability.
◦ They must not have any severe illnesses that may kill them for them to qualify for a transplant.
◦ In the case of a couple they had to have been married for at least 2 years. The age of the couple should not be more than 110 years together.
◦ Single people can also adopt with some conditions placed on them. Women in India can adopt any child of any gender whereas a man cannot adopt a female child alone.

• Age Requirements: The difference between the age of the child and the adoptive parents must be 25 years.

Types of Adoption

a. In-country Adoption: Only who is the citizen of India can take up a child within the boundaries of the country. The adoption process is conducted by CARA, and the potential adoptive parents have to first sign up on CARA’s website.
b. Inter-country Adoption: Here, it will be Indian citizens living in foreign countries NRIs, OCI, or any foreigner who adopts children originating from India. This process is done under the Intercountry Adoption of Children Act of the Hague Convention of which India is a member.

4. Adoption process like any other process is composed of various steps as explained

Adoption in India typically follows these steps:

a. Registration

Prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) must first register with an authorized adoption agency, which can be done online through the CARA website[1] ( http://www.cara.nic.in.). As part of the registration process, PAPs will be required to submit several details such as personal information, and health records, among others a declaration of financial status.

b. Home Study Report

Following registration, another witnessing procedure will be done by a social worker from a Specialized Adoption Agency (SAA) and a Home Study Report (HSR)[2] shall be conducted. This report evaluates the family’s preparedness for adoption with a focus on areas of parental competency, emotional status, and financial status. The process normally lasts for a month or two.

c. Referral of a Child.

If a patient qualifies to be a PAP, he or she becomes eligible for a referral as soon as HSR is approved. Being used fosters, they are given information about a child who is and is up for adoption; they are given his/her clinical history and other information[3]. The special education teacher and/or other professionals in a child’s life have the chance to either confirm or deny the referral. If they agree they have to give their consent to reserve the child in terms of signing an intent declaration.

d. Pre-adoption Foster Care

If the child is very reserved, the adoptive parents may be requested to take the child under pre-adoption foster care so that, the child develops an attachment to the family. This step is however recommended but not compulsory.

e. Legal Procedures

The adoption in India is known to be a legal procedure and it is considered complete once the court has signed an order. The PAPs must apply to the concerned court and the court scrutinizes the case as well as crosschecks all related papers before approving the adoption order under Section 58 Juvenile Justice Act 2015[4]. Since this order is given, the parties are entitled to the legal custody of the child repose with the adoptive parents.

f. Post-adoption Follow-up

After finalization of the adoption, the adoption agency shall also do post-adoption visits to the family periodically for some time.[5] (till two years) to assess the physical and psychological health of the child in the family.

5. Barricades that present themselves during the Adoption Process

Although the adoption procedure is legal in India there are slight hurdles that aspiring parents may come across. This is in the area of long waiting periods to access services, complicated procedures and processes as well as high standard measures of qualification for service delivery.[6]. Moreover, the arbitrary between the number of children that are available for adoption and the number of eligible children is common, which results in the delay.

Conclusion

Adoption in India is a very meticulous process to protect the child and at the same time not violate the rights of the adoptive parents. Thus, adoption in India is slowly becoming an easier process for both domestic parents and international ones due to CARA’s rules and compliance with international standards. Nevertheless, this process is gradually improving to provide the best environment to children in need of parental care.

Reference

1. Anubha Rastogi, "Adoption in India: A Legal Perspective" (2020) 12(3) Indian Journal of Family Law 45.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236005514_Adoption_in_India_-_the_PastPresent_and_the_Future_Trends#:~:text=Adoption%20serves%20two%20purposes%3B%20it,same%20(Joshi%2C%202015).

2. Ved Kumari, "Legal Framework of Adoption in India: Challenges and Reforms" (2019) 16 Delhi Law Review 112.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0007681307001292

3. Nandita Rao, "The Juvenile Justice Act and Adoption Procedures" (2018) 9(2) National Law School Journal 88.

https://globalarchives.in/index.php/ijasmr/index

4. Shivani Singhal, "Adoption Laws in India: A Comprehensive Study" (2021) 14(1) Journal of Indian Law and Society 65.

https://www.lawjournals.org/assets/archives/2018/vol4issue2/4-3-22-243.pdf

5. Ministry of Women and Child Development, "Adoption Regulations, 2017" (Government of India, 2017).

https://familiesofjoy.org/2017/01/07/regulations2017/

[1] Central Adoption Resource Authority, ‘Adoption Guidelines 2022’ (CARA, 2022) https://cara.nic.in/ accessed 7 September 2024.

[2] Anil Kumar, ‘Adoption in India: Legal and Procedural Aspects’ (2019) 12 Journal of Family Law 75.

[3] Shubham Verma, ‘Challenges in Child Adoption in India’ (2021) 14 International Journal of Social Welfare 134.

[4] R.Subramanian,‘The Role of Judiciary in Child Adoption in India’ (2020) 22 Indian Law Review 120.

[5] Meera Sharma, ‘Post-Adoption Support and Monitoring in India’ (2022) 18 Adoption Quarterly 90.

[6] Neelam Singh, ‘Challenges in Adoption Procedures: A Review’ (2023) 10 Indian Journal of Social Work 45.