2,000 children adopted by Indians, 224 by foreigners so far this year: Govt

More than 2,000 children have been adopted by Indians in the financial year 2023-24 so far while 224 children have been adopted by foreigners, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani informed the Parliament on Wednesday.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Irani said the Women and Child Development Ministry had notified Adoption Regulations, 2022, which have been framed in line with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2021), on September 23 last year.

The Adoption Regulations were framed keeping in mind the issues and challenges faced by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and other stakeholders, including the Adoption Agencies and Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs), she said.

According to the data shared by the minister, 3,142 children were adopted by Indians and 417 by foreigners in 2020-21, 2,991 by Indians and 414 by foreigners in 2021-22, and 3,010 by Indians and 431 by foreigners in 2022-23.

In 2023-24, 2,248 children had been adopted by Indians and 224 by foreigners till December 12, the data showed.

CARA has developed CARINGS, an online adoption platform for building bridges and creating links through a robust web-based management system designed to bring transparency in the adoption system and curtail delays at various levels. The CARINGS portal has been further simplified, Irani said.