NEW DELHI: Despite the fact that there are over 50,000 orphaned or abandoned children, mostly girls, in the country, the rate of adoption in India has gone down drastically in the last five years.
The adoption rate by Indians as well as those by foreign nationals has gone down by nearly 50 per cent in the last five years, according to official figures and tedious adoption norms and a slow judicial process further dampened the adoption process.
While figures from most Indian states are not very encouraging, the adoption numbers in Meghalaya are even more surprising. As per a report, only four children were adopted in the Hill State in the last five years making it the lowest in the country.
While 1,606 children were adopted in Maharashtra in 2010, the highest in the country, the figure came down to 1,212 in 2013. Similarly, Tamil Nadu was on the second spot with 693 adoptions in 2010.
While South Indian states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala have still maintained a relatively high rate of adoption, states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Goa and Uttarakhand, along with the North-Eastern states, have recorded an abysmally low number of child adoptions.
The Union Territory of Chandigarh, too, fared poorly with just nine adoptions during 2010 to 2014.
Officials say that the low rate of adoption in the North-Eastern states was primarily due to absence of government-recognized adoption agencies in the region.
“States like Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh do not have any registered agency due to which adoption of children has taken a hit in these states,” they added.
As per Government records, 6,321 children were adopted in the country in 2010, but the number of adoptions came down to 4,354 in 2013. The figures declined further as per the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), which is the nodal agency for in-country and inter-country adoption of children in India. Also, 70 to 80 per cent of cases pertain to girl child which deters the adoption agencies from being pro-active.
In the international front, the US has adopted 672 Indian children in the last five years, followed by Italy and United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, India has asked all its passport department offices to expedite the process of issuing passports to inter-country adopted children. As adoption in India is going down drastically, the Central Government has decided to ease the existing norms to facilitate adoption by foreign nationals in India.
The MEA’s reaction came after the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry wrote to it, pointing out that some abandoned and orphaned inter-country adopted children are facing difficulties in obtaining birth certificates, which is a mandatory requirement for obtaining a passport.
The Indian Government, as per the provisions of the Hague Convention, had asked all its passport department offices to expedite the process of issuing passports to inter-country adopted children. The MEA had also waived the requirement of police verification for such children in the past.
Addressing the national meet on adoption organized by the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) recently, Union WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi had expressed concerns over the slow rate of adoptions. “The adoption rate of 800 to 1,000 per year in India, which has around 50,000 orphan children, is shameful,” she had noted. She insisted on increasing the number of children being adopted per year failing which the worst performing adoption agencies will be shut down immediately.
