Dated: 2024-04-26 02:21:32
Me and my wife are planning to adopt a child, can you tell us the procedure in brief and other aspects related to it.Child adoption is a legal process in which a person assumes the parenting of child, from that child’s biological or legal parent, and thereby transfers the rights and responsibilities from the biological parents. The person who is adopting can become the parent though he may not be related to the child by blood. After the adoption process is complete, i.e. post adoption all the rights and responsibilities are similar to that of a biological child.
The adoption process is different for people belonging to different religion. There is no specific personal law for adoption in the Muslim, Parsi and Christian religion and hence they have to approach the court under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 for legal adoption.
Adoption process is regulated in India by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). It provides for eligibility criteria and the process to be followed during adoption of a child.
The eligibility criterion is as follows: -
Procedure : -
The interested parents should register themselves as prospective adoptive parents by uploading the relevant required documents. Then a home study report will be prepared, which will look at the adoptive parent(s)’ home and family (this may include a preliminary interview with the adopting parent). This report has a validity of two years. Based on the choice of the parents of age, gender, colour, etc. the parents are presented with a set of three children to select from. (So basically the parents have the choice to choose specific preferences of their prospective child.) The pictures along with a medical report are provided to the parents. The parents then have the choice to reserve one child out of the three presented within the time frame of 48 hours. A meeting shall then be organised with the child and complete the adoption process accordingly. While accepting the child, the medical report and the child study report must be signed by the parents. It is to be noted that the process follows the rule of seniority and first registered first served. The detailed link to the procedure is, http://cara.nic.in/Parents/Guideline_RI.html.
If one wants to understand how it is to adopt a child in India, one must read the experience shared by Rajeshwari Sharma at The Better Indian, where she describes how the adoption works in pratical life and how she adopted a child. (Read at: https://www.thebetterindia.com/19623/my-story-i-wanted-to-adopt-a-child-in-india-this-is-everything-i-learned/ )
The website Indian Parenting provides the visitor with relevant information about the adoption experiences of various families from all strata of the society. (Read at : http://www.indiaparenting.com/adoption/adoption-success-stories/index.html )
Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), which regulates and oversees all the adoptions in India also provides for the experiences shared by the adopting parents.The same can be read at : http://cara.nic.in/glimpse/sucess_story.html.
As mentioned above online registration needs to be completed beforehand and then there are some documents required for completing the process. The link the Schedule VI, which is the online form to be filled and also mentions the documents needed is, http://cara.nic.in/pdf/schedule/6.pdf
An home study report is also drafted by the authority, which includes various questions which might be asked to the Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAP). So as to get the better understanding of the home study report and to be well prepared with the questions, it is recommended that the parents, visit this link for Schedule VII, at; http://cara.nic.in/pdf/schedule/7.pdf.
Most Importantly, one may need to understand the regulation at one or the other point of time while adopting a child, and hence the link to the regulation is, http://cara.nic.in/PDF/Regulation_english.pdf.
Krishnaveni Advocate