Lok Sabha Question No. 1824 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-16
Subject: Child Adoption
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Pratima Mondal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO.1824

TO BE ANSWERED ON 16.12.2022

## CHILD ADOPTION

## 1824. SHRIMATI PRATIMA MONDAL :

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- a.  the number of children adopted by Indians and foreigners during each of the last three years and the current year;
- b.  whether the child adoption has increased during the said period, if so, the details thereof;
- c.  whether the Government has received complaints regarding complicated formalities involved in the adoption procedure, if so, the details thereof; and
- d.  the action taken by the Government to simplify child adoption procedure in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a)  &  (b)  :  As  per  information  received  from  Central  Adoption  Resource  Authority (CARA),  the  details  of  number  of  children  adopted  by  Indians  and  Foreigners/NonResident  Indians  (NRIs)  during  each  of  the  last  three  years  and  current  year  (upto 13.12.2022) are as under :-

| Year                                         |   In-country Adoption |   Inter-country Adoption |
|----------------------------------------------|-----------------------|--------------------------|
| 2019-2020                                    |                  3351 |                      394 |
| 2020-2021                                    |                  3142 |                      417 |
| 2021-2022                                    |                  2991 |                      414 |
| 2022-2023 (April, 2022 to December 13, 2022) |                  1836 |                      222 |

(c)  : Most  of  the  grievances  relate  to  waiting  time  of  the  Prospective  Adoptive Parents (PAPs). The waiting period of the PAPs depends on the availability of children who are declared legally free for adoption by CWC. It also depends on the choice of the PAPs to adopt from a particular State and also the age group preferred. While there is a long  queue  to  adopt  a normal  young  child  upto  six  years  of  age,  there  is  no  waiting period for the PAPs who desire to adopt a child having special needs and a child from immediate  placement  category  (mostly  older  children).   Further,  the  waiting  time  is relevant for the PAPs only, the children who are legally free do not have to wait.

(d)  :  On  the  basis  of  feedback  received  from  the  stakeholders  and  experts,  Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has framed the Adoption Regulations, 2022 in-line with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2021)  which  has  been  notified  on  23.09.2022.  The  Adoption  Regulations,  2022  were framed  keeping  in  mind  the  issues  and  challenges  faced  by  CARA  and  other  stake holders including the Adoption Agencies & Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs).

Some of the salient features include (i) issue of Adoption Order by District Magistrate instead of Court, (ii) upper age limit for PAPs reduced to 85 years for couple and 40 years  for  a  single  PAPs  in  case  they  are  adopting  a  child  below  2  years,  (iii)  7-day adoption effort launched by CARA for Resident Indian (RI), Non-Resident Indian (NRI), and  Overseas  Citizen  of  India  (OCI)  PAPs,  (iv)  Chief  Medical  Officer  (CMO)  to determine the health status of the child based on Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016,  (v)  strict  time  line  has  been  laid  down  for  uploading  LFA  (Legally  Free  for Adoption) within maximum  period of ten days, (vi) PAPs with more than two children do not  qualify  to  get  referral  for  a   normal  child,  (vii)  mandatory  counselling  has  been stipulated for all the relevant stakeholders like prospective parents and older children at pre-adoption, adoption and post-adoption stages, (viii) times lines at various stages like uploading  of  LFA  (Legally  Free  for  Adoption) within  ten  days,  examination  of  special needs  children  within  a  period  of  fifteen  days  by  the  Chief  medical  Officer  and verification of adoption application documents by District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) within  five days, (ix) emphasis on foster adoption of adoptable children already in foster care after a period of two years and (x) stringent measures have been provisioned for PAPs becoming reason for disruption  or dissolution.

The CARINGS portal for adoption maintained by CARA has been revamped to ensure online  processing  of  adoption  cases  expeditiously  and  transparently.  The  end  to  end digitisation  of  entire  process  has  led  to  faster  processing  at  field  level  also.  All  the Districts  Magistrates  have  already  registered  on  the  portal.  Further,  Chief  Medical Officers  of  the  districts  are  also  being  registered  on  the  portal   to  determine  health status  of  the  special  need  children  and  for  necessary  medical  intervention  for  fast tracking placement of such children.

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