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Contents
Source: The post is based on the article “Finding a home” published in The Hindu on 18th August 2022.
Syllabus: GS 2 – mechanisms, laws, institutions, and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of vulnerable sections.
Relevance: About facilitating adoption in India.
News: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice have tabled the report titled “Review of Guardianship and Adoption Laws” in Parliament. The report highlighted the huge mismatch between the number of people wanting to adopt children and the number of children legally available for adoption.
What are the major findings of the committee on the status of adoption in India?
There were 6,996 orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children residing in childcare institutions considered adoptable, but only 2,430 were declared legally free for adoption by Child Welfare Committees.
On the other hand, there are around 27,939 prospective parents registered with the Child Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) for adoption.
The total number of children adopted in 2021-22 was only 3,175.
| Must read: Review of Guardianship and Adoption Laws report: Explained | On guardianship and adoption of minors |
What are the suggestions of the committee for facilitating adoption in India?
| Read here: Panel moots district-level survey to bring more children into adoption |
What is the other challenge associated with adoption?
The process of adoption in the country was tightened — procedurally and legally — in response to rampant malpractices and inter-country adoption rackets. The government installed CARA as the nodal body for in-country and inter-country adoptions
What should be done for facilitating adoption in India?
Policy intervention without knowledge of the ground realities often results in little or no benefit for the intended target group. Hence, a ground-level study has to be conducted as suggested by the Parliamentary Committee to bring out child-centric policies in adoption.
The government has to ensure that orphan and abandoned children found begging on the streets are made available for adoption at the earliest.
The government has to address the imbalance in the number of children available for adoption and the number of persons seeking to adopt the children.
