No 'pick and choose' for couples opting for adoption

Prospective parents going for adoption will now not be allowed to "pick and choose" and can only accept or reject the child offered by the national adoption body.

The new rule will come into force from Monday.

Till now, parents registered with the government's adoption portal, CARINGS, were referred up to three children and could accept one.

This practice will now end and parents will be referred only one child.

"The rate of adoption was very slow and the children would remain in the referral cycle for a very long time. Under the new method, we will be able to refer all children in our adoption pool to an equal number of prospective parents," CEO, Child Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), Lt Col Deepak Kumar said. Parents can participate in a maximum of three rounds of referral before they move to the bottom of the waiting list.

In each of these rounds, they will be sent a profile of a different child.

However, parents will not be able to choose from the three children referred to them in these rounds which will be held after a gap of at least 90 days. "We are also trying to discourage commodification of adoptable children where parents can pick and choose, " Kumar said. Parents will have 48 hours to accept a child from the time the child's profile is sent to them. It takes another 20 days to complete formalities before an application is filed in a court to seek an adoption order.