CHAPTER -I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title and commencement:
1. These Guidelines may be called the Guidelines Governing the Adoption of Children, 2011.
2. They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
2. Definitions:
(1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires-
(a) "Act" means the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 (56 of 2000);
(b) “ACA” means the Adoption Coordinating Agency;
(c) “Abandoned” means an unaccompanied and deserted child who is declared abandoned by the Child Welfare Committee after due inquiry;
(d) “Adoption” means the process through which the adopted child is permanently separated from his biological parents and becomes the legitimate child of his adoptive parents with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that are attached to the relationship;
(e) AFAA or “Authorised Foreign Adoption Agency” means a Foreign Social or Child Welfare Agency that is authorized by CARA for sponsoring the application of Prospective NRI or OCI or PIO or Foreign Adoptive Parents for Adoption of an Indian child;
(f) “ARC” means Adoption Recommendation Committee constituted by the State Government.
(g) “Best Interest of the child” means a decision taken to ensure the physical, emotional, intellectual, social and moral development of a child;
(h) “CARA” means the Central Adoption Resource Authority;
(i) “CCC” means Child Care Corpus
(j) “Central Authority” means the Government department recognized as such under Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption;
(k) “Child Welfare Committee” means Committee constituted under section 29;
(l) “Children legally free for adoption” means orphan, abandoned and surrendered children declared free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee;
(m) “CSR” means Child Study Report which contains details about the child such as the date of birth and social background;
(n) “Habitual residence” means a place of settled dwelling, which constitutes a person's ordinary residence at least for a period of one year;
(o) “HSR” means Home Study Report containing details of the Adoptive parents’ social and economic status; family background; description of home; standard of living; relationship with spouse, if any, and other family members; health status and the like;
(p) ‘ICPS” means Integrated Child Protection Scheme launched by the Government of India in the Ministry of Women and Child Development;
(q) “In-country Adoption” means adoption of a child or children by a citizen of India residing in India;
(r) “Inter-country Adoption” means adoption of a child or children by persons having status of Non-Resident Indians or Overseas Citizens of India or Persons of Indian Origins or Foreign Nationals;
(s) “NOC” means No Objection Certificate issued by CARA permitting the child to be placed in adoption with prospective foreign or PIO or OCI or NRI adoptive parents;
(t)“NRI” means Non-resident Indian citizen who holds an Indian passport and is presently residing abroad;
(u) “OCI” means a person registered as Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) under section 7A of the Citizenship Act, 1955;
(v) “Orphan” means a child who is without parents or willing and capable legal or natural guardian;
(w) “PIO” means Persons of Indian Origin;
(x) “Pipeline cases” means those cases where the PAP(s) have already accepted referrals prior to the expiry or withdrawal of recognition of the concerned RIPA or SAA;
(y) “Pre–adoption foster care” means a stage when the custody of a child is given to prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) with a view to adopt;
(z) “Prospective Adoptive Parents” means person eligible to adopt a child as per the Act;
(aa) Recognised Indian Placement Agency (RIPA) means one Specialised Adoption Agency recognized by CARA for placing children in inter-country adoption;
(y) “Section” means a section of the Act;
(z) “Schedule” means a schedule annexed to these Guidelines;
(za) "State Government" in relation to a Union Territory means the administrator of that Union Territory appointed by the President under article 239 of the Constitution;
(zb) “SAA” means the Specialised Adoption Agency which includes Recognised Indian Placement Agency (RIPA) and Licensed Adoption Placement Agency(LAPA);
(zc)“SARA” means the State Adoption Resource Agency;
(zd) “Surrendered child” means a child, who in the opinion of the Child Welfare Committee, is relinquished on account of physical, emotional and social factors beyond the control of the parent or guardian; and
(2) All words and expressions used but not defined in these Guidelines shall have the same meaning as assigned to them in the Act.
3. Fundamental principles governing adoption:
The following fundamental principles shall govern adoptions of children from India, namely: -
(a) The child's best interest shall be of prime importance while deciding any placement;
(b) Preference shall be given to place the child in adoption within the country;
(c) Adoption of children shall be guided by a set procedures and in a time bound manner;
(d) No one shall derive any gain, whether financial or otherwise, through adoption.
4. Person competent to be adopted:
Any orphan, abandoned or surrendered child can be adopted following due procedure laid down in these Guidelines if such child is declared legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
5. Person competent to adopt:
In accordance with the provisions of sub-section (6) of section 41, the Court may allow a child to be given in adoption, -
(a) To an individual irrespective of his or her marital status; or
(b) To parents to adopt a child of the same sex irrespective of the number of living biological sons or daughters; or
(c) To a childless couple.
6. Additional Eligibility Criteria for Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs):
(1) No child may be given in adoption to a couple unless they have at least two years of stable marital relationship.
(2) Couples in live-in relationship are not eligible to adopt a child.
(3) To adopt a child in the age group of 0-3 years, the maximum composite age of the PAPs should be 90 years wherein the individual age of the PAPs should not be less than 25 years and more than 50 years.
(4) To adopt children above three years of age, the maximum composite age of the PAPs should be 105 years wherein the individual age of the PAPs should not be less than 25 years and more than 55 years.
(5) In case a single PAP desires to adopt, he or she should not be less than 30 years of age and shall not be above the age of 50 years. The maximum age shall be 45 years to adopt children in the age group of 0-3 years and 50 years for adopting children above 3 years.
(6) The PAPs should have adequate financial resources to provide a good upbringing to the child.
(7) The PAPs should have good health and should not be suffering from any contagious or terminal disease or any such mental or physical condition, which may prevent them from taking care of the child.
(8) Adoption of a second child is permissible only when the legal adoption of the first child has been finalized but this is not applicable in case of siblings.
(9) An un-married or single male person is not permitted to adopt a girl child.
7. Procedure for adoption:
(1) The PAPs may adopt a child in accordance with the procedure, namely: -
(a) The Indian PAPs habitually residing in India shall adopt a child only through a Government recognised adoption agency known as Specialised Adoption Agency.
(b) The PAPs shall register only with one recognised adoption agency, which should preferably be nearest to their place of residence.
(c) The PAPs in India can also register online at http://www.adoptionindia.nic.in/
(d) The PAPs residing abroad shall adopt children only through CARA authorised agencies known as Authorized Foreign Adoption Agency(AFAA).
(e) The PAPs should register with an AFAA or Central Authority nearest to their place of residence.
(f) In countries where there is no AFAA or Central Authority, the Indian nationals may approach the Indian High Commission or Embassy for processing and forwarding their case to CARA.
(2) After registration, the PAPs shall follow the adoption procedure as provided in these Guidelines and as per the details given in CARA’s website www.adoptionindia.nic.in
8. Priorities for Rehabilitation of a Child:
(1) The best interest of the child is served by providing him or her an opportunity to be placed with a family within his or her own socio-cultural milieu in the country itself.
(2) Due consideration should be given to the child’s upbringing and to his or her ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background while placing him or her in adoption but, a child can be placed with any Indian PAP(s) within the country without any geographical barrier.
(3) The citizens of a country that has ratified the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993 and who are also habitual residents of a country that has ratified the said Convention can adopt a child from India.
(4) Indian nationals who live in countries which are not signatories to the Hague Convention are also eligible to adopt.
(5) Preference shall be given for placing a child in in-country adoption and the ratio of in-country adoption to inter-country adoption shall be 80:20 of total adoptions processed annually by a RIPA, excluding special needs children.
(6) The following order of priority shall be followed in case of inter-country adoptions;
(i) Non Resident Indian (NRI);
(ii) Overseas Citizen of India (OCI);
(iii) Persons of Indian Origin (PIO);
(iv) Foreign Nationals.
9. Adoption of Special Needs Children:
(1) Special care must be taken while processing the cases for adoption of special needs children, so that the prospective adoptive family is aware and ready to provide extra care and attention that the child needs.
(2) It is important to understand that child with special needs requires, more than any other child, the care and love of a family at an early stage.
(3) The adoption process for children with special need shall be completed as expeditiously as possible by the concerned authorities and time lines laid down for special needs children in these Guidelines shall be strictly adhered to.
(4) The PAPs wishing to adopt special needs children shall be given top priority in the waiting list.
(5) In spite of best efforts, some special needs children do not get adopted and have to remain in institutions and such children should be shifted by the Specialised Adoption Agency to specialized institutions in case such institutions are available in the State.