Stressing on the need for adoption, the government on Thursday said the number of girls adopted was more than boys as per the in-country adoption data over the past three years.
“The total number of in-country and inter-country adoptions were 5,002 for 2012-13; 4,354 for 2013-14 and 4,362 for 2014-15,” Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi told the Rajya Sabha.
Replying to an unstarred question in the Upper House, the Minister said: “The data pertaining to children with disabilities or special needs placed in in-country adoption is not available. However, the number of children with disabilities or special needs placed in inter-country adoption is available from 2012-13 onwards. The number of such children placed is – 170, 242 and 214 for 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, respectively. No data is maintained centrally on the age-wise breakdown of adoption statistics.”
“The ministry had received a feedback from adoption agencies and other stakeholders regarding the new adoption guidelines mainly on adoption procedure, roles and responsibilities of various agencies and authorities, timelines involved in adoption,” she said.
Gandhi has spearheaded the initiative to simplify adoption process in India. Speaking to Millennium Post earlier she had said: “When I took charge, my immediate aim was to bring in reforms in the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA ). We have changed the earlier complex process now, making it very simple. It will be further be simplified once the Act goes in. It gives specific responsibilities and punishment to adoption centres. Now, we are having adoption workshops all over India.”
The government has issued a new set of adoption guidelines, which have come into effect from August this year.
During an interaction with state representatives (WCD secretaries and WCD state ministers) in October this year, Gandhi had said that “the government had set a target that 50,000 children should be adopted by December next year, under these guidelines, which ensured that the process is simpler and easier.”
“There need is an adoption agency in every single state in the country. We have revised the guidelines of CARA, but there were very few adoption agencies in every state. All states need to register every Child Care Institution (CCI) with CARA, as it will help in reducing both child abuse and trafficking,” she said.
Gandhi during the meeting had said that most of the states have not set up Specialised Adoption Resource Agencys (SARAs) and at present “there are only 411 adoption agencies on CARA’s list with a little over 800 children, whereas around 9,000 parents are waiting to adopt a child.”
She had said: “There are only 633 Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and 278 State Adoption Agencies (SAAs) operational in 677 districts, which should be otherwise one each in district under the law.”
She asked the states to ensure the creation of CWCs in each districts and call for a regular review of their performance.