Before The Baby, The Law

There are three laws under which a child can be adopted or given guardianship:

• The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA), under which Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains can apply for adoption of a child.
• The Guardian & Wards Act, 1890 (GAWA), under which Christians and Muslims can be given custody of a child. This act pertains to guardianship and not adoption. This means the ward cannot be your legal heir.
• The newly-formulated Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000. Muslims and Christians can adopt only under this act. But to do that, they have to approach the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) that has to be empowered by the state government. However, in most states like Delhi, the governments have not yet empowered the JJBs.

• Prospective parents have to first register with the local Recognised Indian Placement Agency (RIPA) or a Licensed Adoption Placement Agency (LAPA), adoption coordinating agency or with the state adoption cell.
• The social worker of a licensed agency then assesses the suitability of the parents through a ‘home study report’. Documents relating to the financial and health status of the prospective parents are part of the prepared report.
• The child is shown to the potential parents.
• The adoption agency files a petition in the court for obtaining the necessary orders. The whole process is supposed to take six to eight weeks. But more often than not, the paperwork drags on for far longer.

Then there are the many NGOs and voluntary agencies that have been licensed by the government. Some of the key organisations that facilitate adoption are as under:

• CARA. E-mail: cara.nic.in
• Lists of all placement agencies approved by CARA can be found at ispsquash.com and also at http://www.ngo-marg.org
• Missionaries of Charity, Calcutta: Tel: (091-033) 2452277, 2447115, 2491400.
• Delhi Council of Child Welfare: Tel: (091-011) 23968907, Fax: 23944655
• Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, Bangalore. Phone: (091-080) 5474993
• Bal Anand World Child Welfare Trust (India), Mumbai. Phone: (091-022) 5568395, 5566262, Fax: 5564914
• Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra, Pune. Phone: (091-020) 6818196, 6139314.Poornima Joshi