Indians averse to adopting children with special needs

Indians averse to adopting children with special needs

Context

Adoptions by foreign applicants rise by 50%

What has happened?

For every Indian parent who adopts a differently-abled child there are at least seven foreigners who adopt such children from India after they fail to find a family in the country

Child Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)

Apex body for adoption in India, shared latest data=

• Domestic adoptions falling: Domestic adoptions of children with special needs has fallen with every passing year
• Rise in foreign adoptions: Foreigners adopting children with a physical deformity or an ailment rose by 50% last year alone

What the law says

Efforts have to be made to place a child within India first, and only when a child is not accepted by Indian applicants is he or she referred to foreigners

Reason for larger adoption by foreigners

• Most referrals to foreigners are of differently abled children: Overseas applicants are mostly referred differently-abled children as Indians don’t accept them mostly.
• Primary reason: Differences in cultural attitudes towards disabilities
  • Even parents of healthy children have huge expectations of them. So, naturally, there is social stigma attached with disabilities in our country
  • Those with means in India also don’t adopt these children
• Better social security abroad: It helps families adopt a child with disabilities

CARA

• Statutory body: It is a statutory body of Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India
• Nodal body for adoptions: It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
• Hague convention: CARA is designated as the Central Authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003.
  CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies