Number of orphan, abandoned children rise by 25% since 2020: WCD Ministry

The Centre has over the last three years registered a 25 per cent spike in the number of orphaned, abandoned, and surrendered children in its child adoption portal CARINGS.

The number of such children, which was 4,521 in 2020-21 and 5,106 in 2021-22, rose to 5,663 in 2022-23, according to the data shared by the Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani in Rajya Sabha.

According to the government, the Child Adoption Resource Information & Guidance System, or CARINGS, is an online platform developed for end-to-end digital processing to bring transparency to the adoption system and curtail delays.

In response to a question, Irani said 3,443 children were adopted in the country in the last one year alone.

Responding to another question, Irani said about 4,268 inspections of child-care homes have so far been carried out across the country through the government's MASI (Monitoring App for Seamless Inspection) since its launch in 2021.

The portal was launched in January 2021 with the first inspection in Chennai but then, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the inspections could not be carried out, a senior official said, adding that they were resumed again after the curbs were lifted.