The Centre is aiming to reduce the child adoption time frame from two years to a maximum of four months by early 2015.
The newly constituted Consultative Committee of the Parliament attached to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development which met on Monday discussed the urgent need to overhaul the adoption process making it more transparent and quicker.
According to the statistics with Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), there are around 2,400 children waiting for adoption in about 324 Specialised Adoption Agencies. There are over 1,250 children’s homes in the country.
Minister of Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, who chaired the meeting said that changes in adoption laws were underway to make the process simpler and faster.
“The WCD Ministry is carrying out major reforms which will enable the prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) to get a child within a maximum period of four months from the date of application,” said Maneka. “To increase transparency, the entire process is now made online and a time limit has been defined for each step involved in the process of adoption,” she added.
The WCD Minister said that these reforms are sought to be carried out with the help of the Juvenile Justice (Protection and Care of Children) Bill 2014 which has already been introduced in the Parliament in the last session.
“Apart from the Bill, the guidelines for adoption are also being modified. It would be possible for each of the PAPs already registered with CARA to get a child by April, 2015, once these reforms are carried out,” said Maneka.
To clear the backlog of children waiting for adoption, the Ministry is working to integrate Children Homes with Specialised Adoption Agencies making older children also available for adoption.
The Ministry has also given directions for integrating the CARA website with Facebook to enable greater interaction between prospective parents and children awaiting adoption.
The Ministry is also directed CARA to upload details of Child Welfare Committees and lawyers have been uploaded on their website to help prospective parents.
The members of the Consultative Committee discussed difficulties, lacunae and lack of transparency in the child-adoption process delaying it in several cases by up to four years. They also highlighted the need for a close post-adoption follow up.