HC allows first Christain adoption

According to the circular issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Office of the Registrar General Vital Statistics on July 14, 1999, an application for registration of the birth of a child offered for adoption, will have to be made before the local magistrate along with an affidavit from the agency. After approving the particulars, the magistrate will then direct the Registrar of Births and Deaths of the area to issue a birth certificate.

While a regular birth certificate includes the names of the biological parents, in this case the column for the mother8217;s name will remain blank. Instead, the adoptive parents8217; names will be entered in the remarks8217; column after the adoption is finally approved by the high court, and again on the final order of the magistrate. The circular, accompanied by a covering letter, was dispatched by the Central Adoption Resource Agency CARA to adoption agencies only on July 26.

Explaining the guidelines, Madhavi Hegde-Karandikar, adoption practitioner and honorary secretary of the Bal Asha Trust, said today that these guidelines though late by a year would now help them obtain registration and birth certificates for the children in their agencies. Till now, she pointed out, it was difficult to get birth certificates for such children. Also, the worst offender in this case was the city of Mumbai, where the officers in the Registrar of Births and Deaths, refused to issue birth certificates, even if there was a high court order approving the adoption.

8220;Even cities like Pune, Nagpur and Sawantwadi gave birth certificates with the names of the adoptive parents, when an application is made. But here, even after an order from the court is received, officials in Mumbai refuse to do so. The reason offered is that it would affect their statistics since there is a possibility that the birth had been registered earlier,8221; she said.

Karandikar said she had approached the then municipal commissioner S S Tinaikar in 1989 to try and sort out the problem. 8220;But the officials of the Registrar of Births and Deaths refused to consider his request,8221; she recalled.

The rationale behind a birth certificate is the need to register every very birth in the country. Also, it was in March this year that Justice H L Gokhale too directed that all adoption petitions should be accompanied by the birth certificate or a registration certificate of the child. While this created confusion as it was not clear whether the name of the biological mother should be on the certificate, the guidelines have clared all doubts.

Karandikar also refused to divulge the name of the parent in the July 28 case, saying that all adoption cases are carried out in-camera, but she added that it was a triumph for the adoption movement in the country. Going through last year8217;s landmark judgement of Justice Rebello, she said the court had felt that legally there is nothing to prevent a Christian from adopting. 8220;It is not prohibited by the religion since Moses, in the Old Testament, was accepted as the adopted son of the Pharaoh8217;s daughter. Similarly, the New Testament spoke of a slave being adopted by his master,8221; she said.

Also, Justice Rebello8217;s judgement stated that the right to life included the right to grow up in a home atmosphere with love and care and a normal upbringing. The judgement stated that all the three instruments in a democracy 8212; the legislature, executive and judiciary 8212; are responsible for ensuring that the Directive Princles of the Constitution to enact laws 8220;to give all children equal oppurtunities8221;. If the first two fail, then the third instrument, the judiciary, has to do so.