Decline in number of adoptions in India

Despite the Woman and Child Development (WCD) Minister Maneka Gandhi cracking the whip on NGOs on poor adoption situation in the country, the latest figures for this quarter released by the Government show little promise.During April 2015 to June 2015, the number of children placed in In-country adoption was 816 and inter-country adoption was 95. last year, the first quarter, reported about 997 children placed for in-country adoptions and about 93 for inter-country adoptions.

Overall, adoptions have been showing a decline since the past few years. Domestic adoptions in India have nearly halved from 5,693 in 2010 to 2,503 in 2014 and similarly international adoptions have come down from 628 in 2010-11 to 300 in 2014-15.“The minister is really working on increasing the rate of adoptions in the country, which have been on a down-hill for the past few years now,” said an official from the WCD ministry.

“The Ministry has also ordered for de-recognition of non-performing NGOs. Once the amendments to the Juvenile Justice Bill are implemented, we should see a change,” he said.In February this year, coming hard on the NGOs, the WCD minister had said that the adoption rate of 800 to 1,000 per year in India, which has around 50,000 orphan children, was “shameful.” Maneka said that she wanted 15,000 children to be adopted per year failing which the worst performing adoption agencies would be shut down. 

To push the rate of adoptions in the country the Ministry has introduced a slew of measures in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2014. The fresh guidelines make the process easier and cuts down the time it takes to adopt. It establishes a statutory status for the Child Adoption Resources Authority (CARA). The legislation further proposed several rehabilitation and social integration measures for institutional and non-institutional children. The JJ Bill has been passed by the lok Sabha in May this year, but is awaiting a go-ahead from the upper house.

The data provided by the WCD ministry in a written reply to the lok Sabha on Friday, shows that the US adopts most number of Indian children from various orphanages across the country, followed by Italy and Spain.Figures with the government show that America adopted 108, 156, 133 and 36 children in 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively. While 60, 98, 79 and 25 children found new homes in Italy, 48, 42, 48 and 10 orphans were placed in Spain under the inter-country adoption during the same period.

Within the country, Maharashtra topped the chart with 1,043, 1,068, 947 and 160 adoptions done in the state during the past four years while Delhi with an average adoption rate among other metro cities provided home to 187, 156, 126 and 27 orphan kids.“There 1,521 children’s home and 320 specialised adoption agencies in the country which are being funded under the centrally sponsored integrated Child Protection Scheme,” said Maneka in the reply.