Child Adoption

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Of the 18,179 adoptions recorded since 2019, only 1,404 involved children with special needs even as the absolute numbers of adoptions saw an increase over the next five years, according to official data. Though the number of children with special needs for adoption has risen, the adoption rate is still significantly low, activists pointed out. Children with special needs require additional support due to physical, developmental, behavioural or emotional challenges. In 2019-20, India saw a total of 3,745 adoptions -- 3,351 in-country and 394 international. Of the total number, only 56 boys and 110 girls with special needs were adopted, the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) said in its response to an RTI query filed by PTI. In 2020-21, a total of 3,559 adoptions were recorded including 3,142 in-country and 417 inter-country. Only 110 boys and 133 girls with special needs were adopted in this year. The number of adoptions dropped marginally to 3,405 -- 2,991 in-country and

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Of the 4,009 adoptions between April 2023 and March 2024, 449 were inter-country adoptions, the government data showed

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More than 2,000 children have been adopted by Indians in the financial year 2023-24 so far while 224 children have been adopted by foreigners, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani informed the Parliament on Wednesday. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Irani said the Women and Child Development Ministry had notified Adoption Regulations, 2022, which have been framed in line with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2021), on September 23 last year. The Adoption Regulations were framed keeping in mind the issues and challenges faced by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and other stakeholders, including the Adoption Agencies and Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs), she said. According to the data shared by the minister, 3,142 children were adopted by Indians and 417 by foreigners in 2020-21, 2,991 by Indians and 414 by foreigners in 2021-22, and 3,010 by Indians and 431 by foreigners in 2022-23. In ...

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Unmarried couples, including queer couples, can jointly adopt a child, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while striking down a Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) regulation that allows only married couples to adopt children. A five-judge Constitution bench of the top court on Tuesday unanimously refused to accord legal recognition to same-sex marriages under the Special Marriage Act, ruling that it is within the Parliament's ambit to change the law for validating such a union. Writing a 247-page separate judgement, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud struck down Regulation 5(3) of the CARA, saying it is violative of the rights of the queer community and that the CARA has exceeded its authority in barring unmarried couples from adopting children. The five-judge bench, however, passed a 3:2 verdict against adoption rights for the LGBTQIA++ community. While the CJI and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul opined that queer couples should be given adoption rights, Justices Ravin

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The CJI asserted that even a single individual can adopt a child despite being in a same-sex relationship

The three-member bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud said that the issue was 'very seminal' and must be decided by a Constitution bench

There is no waiting period for those who desire to adopt a child having special needs and also from the immediate placement category which includes mostly older children, the government said on Wednesday. The immediate placement category includes children who have been referred several times to prospective adoptive parents (PAP's) through Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System, but have not found a family. These children are mostly above the age of five. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said while there is a long queue to adopt a normal child up to six years of age, there is no waiting period for PAPs who desire to adopt a child having special needs and a child from immediate placement category(mostly older children). According to the data shared by her, 2,991 children, including 1,698 girls, were adopted in 2021-22 while 3,142 children, including 1,856 girls, were adopted in-country in 2020-21 and

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The Supreme Court on Friday emphasised that the child adoption process in India needs to be streamlined as there are three-to-four years waiting period under the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to adopt a single child while there are "lakhs and lakhs of orphan children waiting to be adopted". The top court had earlier also termed the process as "very tedious" and said that there is an urgent need for the procedures to be "streamlined". A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, AS Bopanna, and JB Pardiwala told Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, "There are a lot of young couples waiting to adopt the child but the process is so tedious that it takes three to four years to get a single child to be adopted through the CARA. Can you imagine a three to four years period to adopt a child in India? It should be made simpler. There are lakhs and lakhs of orphan children waiting to be adopted". Nataraj said that the government is seized of the issue and ..

Over 2,000 children have died in specialised adoption agencies since 2014, the Ministry of Women and Child Development said on Friday.

Smriti Irani said 1,030 foreign applicants (including Non-Resident Indians and Overseas Citizen of India) are registered with the Central Adoption Resource Authority for adoption.

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They need the support of their extended family, say state and NGO welfare workers.