Panel moots district-level survey to bring more children into adoption ambit

For Prelims:

It is a statutory body under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 and is under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
CARA is the designated authority in India for inter-country adoptions under the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993 which India ratified in 2003.

In India the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 gives the rules for adoption for Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists and the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 does the same for Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis.

As per United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), India has 29.6 million orphaned and abandoned children.
The number of parents wanting to adopt has increased, approximately 27,939 prospective parents registered with the Child Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) as of December 2021.
However, though there were a total of 6,996 orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children residing in childcare institutions considered adoptable, only 2,430 children were “legally free” for adoption.
The waiting time for adoption too has increased to three years from one year in the past five years.

It is important to get a true picture of the number of children who are orphaned/abandoned through a district-level survey and the data needs to be updated on a regular basis.
We need to ensure that orphan and abandoned children found begging in streets are produced before the Child Welfare Committee and are made available for adoption at the earliest.
Many children are under parental care, but not optimal care. There are parents abusing their own children or neglecting them.
We must have a zero tolerance towards abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect of children and then have an adequate safety net so that they get the help they need.

Source: THE HINDU