New rule to ease adoption among relatives

The new adoption regulation set to be promulgated in September will allow prospective parents,within and outside the country, to adopt a child from a familymember.
Draft Adoption Regulations 2016 uploaded on the website ofWomen and Child Development Ministry now has a provision for'In-Country Relative Adoptions' and 'Inter-Country RelativeAdoptions'.
The draft is yet to be finalised but a senior official of Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) said this provision will be part of the final regulation.
Once the regulations are in place they will supersede the Adoption Guidelines 2015 which make no mention of adoption from a family member.
The new rule is also commensurate with the Juvenile Justice Act 2015, which spells out the procedure for both in-country and inter-country adoptions.

The change was mandated because the new Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act) was passed in Parliament in December, five months after adoption guidelines issued by Women and Child Development Ministry came into effect on August 1, 2015.

The JJ Act 2015 states, "Adoption of a child from a relative by another relative, irrespective of their religion, can be made as per the provisions of this Act and the adoption regulations framed by the authority."
"If a guideline is silent on any issue then a decision on a case becomes very subjective which leads to adoptions getting stuck. Once a guideline is issued it becomes easier for the people implementing it to take a decision," the CARA official said.

The provisions allow a Prospective Adoptive Parent to be registered on Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) by a foreign adoption agency/central authority/government department or Indian Mission.
As part of the adoption procedure a background report of the prospective adoptive parents will be prepared who will have to file a petition in court to obtain a copy ofthe adoption order.
The other significant addition will be an 'Exceptions Committee' which will address grievances of prospective parents.
"The role of this body will be to tryand expedite decisions on problems faced by prospective adoptive parents. The body will function like an appellateauthority," a senior CARA official said.