Missionaries of Charity gives nod for adoption

Missionaries of Charity gives nod for adoption

News:

1. Missionaries of Charity (MoC) has decided to  give children in its homes up for adoption,by  joining hands with the country’s nodal agency for adoption.

Important Facts:

2. Background:

• In 2015, an ideological row erupted between the ministry and the Mother Teresa-founded organisation over issues such as the MoC’s denial to give children to separated or divorced parents.
• Following this, the Missionaries of Charity decided to stop putting children up for adoption under the government’s Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) system.
• Moreover, In 2015, soon after the Central government announced new rules for adoption and made it mandatory for all homes to be linked to the Child Adoption Resource Authority(CARA), the Missionaries of Charity sought de-recognition of its homes.

3. Significance of linking missionary children to CARA:

• The children in various homes of the Missionaries of Charity will now be linked to a Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA) and details of children would be available on its website.
• The move aims to bring children living in the 79 MoC homes into family care.

4. About CARA:

• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is a statutory body of Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India.
• 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.
• It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
• CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies.

5. Permitted adoptions by CARA:

• The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) permits a single woman to adopt a child of any gender, while single men can adopt only boys.
• In case an applicant is married, both spouses must give their consent for adoption and should be in a stable marriage for at least two years.
• Candidates must be physically fit, financially sound, mentally alert and highly motivated to adopt a child, as per the Adoption Regulations 2017.