Government expands adoption pool for children in CCIs, prioritising those with unfit guardians & no family visitations

NEW DELHI: The government has set off the process to verify and include in the foster care and adoption pool of the Central Adoption Resources Authority children above six years living in child care institutions (CCIs) who have not been visited by anyone from their family for a stipulated period of time or whose guardians have been found to be unfit to take care of them due to any mental or terminal illness.

States are verifying and processing all these cases for inclusion in the pool. Speaking at the closing session of the national consultation organised under the aegis of the Supreme Court’s Juvenile Justice Committee and Unicef on the protection of the rights of children with disabilities, women and child development secretary Anil Malik shared that to include the identified children in the adoption pool two new categories are being added pertaining to cases involving “unfit guardians” and “no visitations”. These new categories have been added in addition to the existing categories of orphaned, abandoned, and surrendered (OAS) children in the adoption pool of the Central Adoption Resources Authority.

Nearly 15,000 children, across these categories, who can be moved to the adoption pool from CCIs have been identified across institutions in the country.

The Supreme Court had in Nov 2023 directed the government to identify and register all such children languishing in CCIs and those not reaching the care institutions without any delay.

The WCD secretary reiterated that the step to include these older children in CCIs in the adoption pool was in line with the view of integrating as many children with the mainstream by trying to see that they grow up in a family and have a social upbringing and not be left to grow in the confines of a children home.

“As far as children registered under the category of ‘no visitation’ and ‘unfit guardians’ are concerned, they will primarily be potential cases for foster care. Once such children are declared legally free, their permanent rehabilitation can be facilitated through adoption,” CARA had stated in its memorandum issued earlier this year to all state adoption resource authorities, district child protection units, specialised adoption agencies and child care institutions.

While emphasising the growing focus on foster care, Malik also emphasised that to step-up adoptions of children with disabilities the process has been streamlined which has given an impetus to the adoptions in this category not just by foreigners and NRIs but also prospective parents from within the country. Malik said they were noticing a positive change in attitudes. The WCD secretary shared that in 2022-23, 152 children with disabilities were adopted. This rose to 309 last year and so far this year, around 150 children have already found a family.

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