Adoption in India - A perspective

I know many of us get frustrated about the adoption process followed by institutions. Nowadays waiting list has become larger and larger. Those who live overseas find it much harder to go through the process as the institutions have to do a lot more steps to validate the welfare of the child to be adopted by the parents. We have to recognize the responsibilities of the institutions in making sure every child under their care find a safe home especially considering several unrecognized activities happening in India. The parents should ensure they do a thorough review of the institution they are dealing with before making an application along with references. The patience is extremely important in this process as much as the parents waiting patiently to have a biological child in some cases. Since it involves emotions of both the parents and children involved, the decision should be taken by absolute consensus of the parents.

The institutions conduct an interview with the parents before making a strategic decision to give custody of the child. This is a very important meeting where they evaluate the mindset of both parents. Once they decide to give temporary custody of the child, some institutions request a donation to the institution or at least cost of maintenance of that particular child up to the date of providing the temporary custody. The parents should make sure they get all health records of the child at the time of custody. It would be better if the parents (at least mother) stay in India at least for a period of one year from the time of custody for operational convenience. If the child is an infant, the parents will have to record all milestone developments of the child and provide data about height, weight and health reports regularly. A social welfare organization will visit the parents once or twice within a year and spend time with the parents to ensure that child is bonding well with the parents. This report is very critical for the institution to give permanent custody to the parents.

After this report is made to the institution by the social welfare organization, the institution will request the parents to seek permanent custody of the child. This process involves the parents appearing in the court and the administrative officer of the institution will declare that the child’s parents have decided to abandon the child or the biological parents of the child are unknown to the institution. This process is to ensure that no one will claim the child later. The adopted father of the child should admit in the court that he is ready to accept the custody of the child and raise the child as his own. The adopted mother should declare that she is in agreement with her husband. The magistrate will make an order awarding the permanent custody to the adopted parents. Upon such order, the parents and the institutions should prepare a deed of adoption and register that with a sub-registrar. At this time, the institution involved will also provide a certificate with known date of birth of the child without the names of the biological parents. This can be used as birth certificate for the child in future along with court order and deed of adoption. At this stage, the institution’s responsibility is over. This process may be outdated, vary for each institution and need to be updated with latest legislation in India.

Many institutions have physicians, psychologists and lawyers on their service providers list to provide necessary guidance and support to the adopted parents. Many of such professionals are doing voluntary service without any fee for their services. It is very important for the parents to understand the entire process of adoption without which the patience will run out. Getting temporary custody after interview is only the step 1 of the process and sometimes even this step takes a lot of time. Most importantly, the parents should have the mentality that the child brings a lot of happiness to them instead of thinking that the child is lucky to be part of their family. After the child grows informing the child about the adoption is another big step and I will write about it in another post.

(This post is based on knowledge personally gained in 1989 and may require updates from those who are familiar with this process or officials of the institutions. Please ask questions to the officials of the institutions instead of relying on this post)[/JUSTIFY]

 

Dear VJ,

Thank you for your kind response. I have to thank you, IL management and ILites for reading my posts. It has been a wonderful experience for the past few months. I look forward to sharing many thoughts in future and most importantly listen to the views of the elite members of IL.

Viswa

 

Dear Mahi,

In general, every institution will have a pediatric physician attached to their institution and this physician will conduct periodical medical check up for all children attached to the Institution. This physician is also responsible for all vaccinations, polio drops at the time it needs to be given. If you have any questions or concerns about the health of the children, this physician will give background information once the institution makes a decision to give that child in adoption to specific parents. This is a standard procedure I am aware of and it might be different from institution to institution.

If there is a serious health issue, the institution with good practices will have to disclose the health issues to the parents and most cases, they won't be allowing that child to be adopted by parents unless they are ready and willing to take care of those issues.

Viswa

 

Dear Arch,

To my knowledge, institutions with good practices, always match the child to the need of the parents and hence always suggest only one child to each parent. Lining up children is inhuman and no institution with good practices will ever do such a thing. Yes. In general, the institution expects the children to have a better life and definitely review the parental income, educational background, family background, etc.

Even though the intention is good, the concept of Orphan train appears to be cruel. Nowadays, institutions who have been doing it for years have best practices thanks to physicians, psychologists, social welfare workers, attorneys and so on. To my knowledge, the children's welfare takes priority over anything else. Catering to the needs of the childless parents is secondary when compared to the welfare of those children who are facing challenges for no fault of them. It is a collaborative effort and many institutions work very closely with many other professionals in determining the right ways to do it. Can the process be improved further? The answer is "Yes". But the process now is much better than what it was several years ago when everyone struggled not knowing what was the right way to do it.

Most institutions have prominent citizens committee to oversee the welfare of the children. They have a high class professional as Administrative officer who is qualified to handle the process.

That is why learned people say doing noble work right is more important than doing it.

Viswa

 

Dear Meera,

I read a few posts already where parents have informed about their adopting a child and the child integrated so beautifully into the family. Many times, it is difficult for parents to speak about it in a public forum as it is a very emotional decision. But when we think of others who would benefit out of it, the parents who adopted children should come forward to share their experiences in this forum. There are many more children who are looking for a home and they truly deserve good parents.

Viswa