New adoption rules submitted, clearance within six months

Central adoption agency proposes mandatory HIV tests

To bring about greater transparency and to simplify the adoption process in India, for both domestic and inter-country adoptions, sweeping changes have been proposed in the existing adoption process.

As per the revised guidelines submitted to the Ministry of Women and Child by CARA Central Adoption Resource Agency on Wednesday, there will be 8220;mandatory testing for HIV for all children put up for adoption8221;.

The 8220;Guidelines on Adoption of Indian Children without Parental Care-20078221; will also see to the setting up of Specialised Adoption Agencies SSA, the only bodies authorised to undertake domestic adoptions.

All procedures for adoption of Indian children by foreigners inter-country adoptions will now have to be routed through the nodal agency CARA. So far, foreign adoption agencies could directly get in touch with the recognised counterparts in India when seeking a child for adoption and a no-objection certificate from CARA was needed.

The new procedure will see CARA as a clearing house for all adoptions and root out any chances of nexus between foreign agencies and Indian ones. This single set of guidelines will replace the existing separate guidelines for incountry 2004 and inter-country 2006 guidelines. All adoptions8212;for both Hindus and non-Hindus8212;will now be encouraged under the Juvenile Justice Amendment Act 2006, ensuring uniformity in adoption laws in the country.

Introducing a 8220;single window8221; system for adopting children, only Child Welfare Committees will henceforth have the authority to declare a child available for adoption.

CARA says that all Indian parents are free to register and adopt from any part of the country irrespective of where they are located.

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On the anvil is a common database to be shared by all state adoption agencies. Prospective parents would be able to see the status of their application in different states.

To minimise delays, a timeframe of six months has been set within which a child has to be cleared for adoption. In case of complex adoptions, procedures can take upto ten months to one year.

All agencies will put forward their views in the next two weeks after which the guidelines will be finalised.