Maneka directs states, UTs to fast-track adoption process

The Centre has set a target that 50,000 children should be adopted by December next year, under the new Adoption Guidelines, which ensured that the process is simpler and easier. 

Interacting with representatives from states, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Sanjay Gandhi on Thursday stressed that “there needs has be an adoption agency in every single state in the country.” 

She was presiding over a two-day National Conference of State ministers and secretaries on Integrated Child Development Services and other ministry schemes. She insisted that all states must clear pendency of cases before Child Welfare Committees, focus on preparation of Home Study Reports and expedite the process declaring children to be legally free so the process of adoption could be made faster and easier. 

“We have revised the guidelines of Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), but there are a few adoption agencies in every state. All states need to register every Child Care Institution (CCI) CARA, as it will help reduce child abuse and trafficking,” she said.

Gandhi said most states have not set up Specialised Adoption Resource Agency (SARA). She said at present, “there are only 411 adoption agencies on CARA  list, with a little over 800 children who can be adopted, whereas around 9,000 parents are waiting to adopt a child.” 

The minister said, “There are only 633 Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and 278 State Adoption Agencies (SAAs) operational in 677 districts, which should be otherwise one in each district as per the law.” She asked the states to ensure the creation of CWCs in each district and call for a regular review of their performance. 

“There are certain CWCs which do not work at all and because of which adoptions are held up. As many as 3,682 adoptions have been held up due to the non-completion of Home Study Reports (HSR) by CWCs,” she added. 

There are also only 616 District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) in the country to conduct the studies. States such as Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttrakhand, UP, Puducherry, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli do not have a SARA. 

The states have also been asked to maintain a monthly record of adoption list. “There are reports of child abuse from CCIs and it can be stopped only by putting them up for adoption. Of 1.3 billion population in the country, only 1,200 children have been adopted so far in this year,” the minister said.