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CARA encourages adoptive parents for foster care and adoption
Marking the Adoption Awareness Month in November, CARA aims to raise awareness about foster care and foster adoption along with encouraging people to adopt older children and children with special needs
Children at a child care institution in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: Purnima Sah
In a Child Care Institution [CCI] in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, Mansi Patil* (14) was excited when Renu Thomas*, fondly known as didi, told her that her profile on the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), a statutory body of Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India, had matched with an adoptive parents based in Mumbai who want to adopt her. Ms. Thomas regularly visits the probation and aftercare children’s home where Mansi has been living for eight years with other children. Excited, Mansi hugged her friends and didi and left to start a new life with her adoptive parents. Unfortunately, due to differences and adjustment issues, within two months, Mansi returned.
Roshan Mankar*(9) and Gargi Gupte*(15), who were adopted a few months ago, returned to the CCI within a month.
Also read | Over 18,000 adoptions since 2019; only 1,404 children with special needs find homes
An official from MWCD agrees that maximum parents want to adopt children between the age group of zero and two. For children above the age of six or 10, adoption becomes challenging, the official said.
Children engaging in fun, education activity at Bal Kalyan Nagari, a semi-government funded child care institution in Mumbai’s Govandi.
| Photo Credit:
Purnima Sah
Bal Kalyan Nagari, a semi-government funded CCI in Mumbai’s Govandi is home to 60 girls between the age of 12 and 18 who wait for adoption. On a rainy afternoon, the girls were sitting down on plastic mats with their tuition teacher.
With their heads down, engrossed in solving equations, another group was busy preparing a science project. A little later, the children started repeating tables in chorus after the teacher, this was followed by blind-fold memory game on the blackboard.
Children living here are either orphaned, abandoned, surrendered, victims of begging, child marriage or parental neglect/abuse. The superintendent of BKN said that 14 NGOs are working with the CCI in different capacities to run the institution. Every child gets ₹1,500 per month allowance from the government, said the official. “Most of the time, the allowance comes as a lump sum after six months. NGOs play a crucial role, otherwise, with just six staff, we cannot function.”
To improve the adoption process, the MWCD has issued comprehensive Model Foster Care Guidelines 2024. In July 2023, CARA incorporated the foster adoption module to support children already under foster care, and in January 2024, foster care segment was introduced to facilitate self-registration of Prospective Foster Parents to foster a child in need of care and protection.
Explaining the concept of foster care and foster adoption in India, MWCD official said, “Foster care means placement of a child, by the Child Welfare Committee for the purpose of alternate care in the domestic environment of a family, other than the child’s biological family, that has been selected, qualified, approved and supervised for providing such care. Foster adoption refers to the process of adopting a foster child with the same foster family. Foster families fostering a child for at least two years and having them declared legally free for adoption can apply for foster adoption through Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS).”
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Any person willing to foster a child for a short- or long-term duration can register for foster care in CARINGS portal, the official added.
Awareness on foster adoption and foster care
Marking the Adoption Awareness Month that happens throughout November every year, CARA this time aims to raise awareness about foster care and foster adoption along with encouraging people to adopt older children and children with special needs. “This year, CARA will be conducting several outreach programmes involving prospective adoptive parents and adoptive parents and other stakeholders in different parts of the country with particular emphasis on foster care and foster adoption,” an official from CARA informed.
Bal Kalyan Nagari, a child care institute in Mumbai, is home to 60 girls between the age of 12 and 18 who wait for adoption.
| Photo Credit:
Purnima Sah
As of October 3, a total number of 222 prospective foster parents (PFPs) have registered for foster care, informed an official MWCD. So far, the adoption of 27 foster parents has been finalised by CARA, the official said. “There are, however, some general confusions such as, the applicants are unaware about procedures of foster care. Foster care is more centric to find a family for older children residing in CCIs and one of the major confusions is that CARA will be operating for foster care on the patterns of adoption process. Whereas in foster care, the district child protection officer and district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) plays a major role in deciding the suitable family for a child. The foster care functionality has been given on CARINGs to facilitate the procedure and ensure monitoring,” informed an MWCD official.
Adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children take place when such children are declared legally free for adoption. As far as foster adoption is concerned, the children in the age group of 6-18 years, who happen to be living with a foster family for a minimum of two years can become legally free for adoption. In such cases, the willingness of the child and the foster parents is very important.
Once Prospective Foster Parents (PFPs) who wish to foster a child register online on CARINGS, the concerned District Child Protection Unit [DCPU] will conduct the Home Study Report. By following further due procedures and inquiries based on the Social Investigation Report and Individual Care Plan, the DCPU will match a suitable child in need of care and protection (CNCP) for the applicant. Based on these documents and understanding the circumstances of the child, DCPU may recommend the case to the district Child Welfare Committee (CWC). The CWC then conducts a hearing to understand the suitability and passes a final order specifying duration for placing the child in foster care.
To improve the adoption process, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, has issued comprehensive Model Foster Care Guidelines 2024.
| Photo Credit:
Purnima Sah
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Amendment Rules, 2022, mandate the CWCs to monitor foster care placement on a regular basis. In case of adjustment issues being reported, the CWCs can conduct a hearing and terminate the foster care of the child. On completion of foster care tenure, through the orders of CWC, the child will be placed back in CCI or with the biological parents and guardians.
A couple, Smitha George* and Michael George* living in the USA adopted three siblings from a CCI in Navi Mumbai. The children were 12, 9 and 6-years-olds. They couple went for foster adoption initially and lived with the children in Thane for a year and half. Since Ms. Smitha is a special education teacher and her husband’s mother is a social worker, everyone around her was equipped with skills such as awareness of mental health, behavioral and academic challenges the children face.
“The first time I met the children, it was scary and challenging for all. The children had experienced trauma, their father was alcoholic and abusive, they lost their mother. For the longest time we heard, ‘why do we have to listen to you?’ ‘You are going to hit me’, ‘you are going to make me your servant’…they came from a lot of mistrust. With time, the children have come a long way; the eldest one has started college this year,” Ms. Smitha said. Now the children live in the U.S. and once a year pay a visit to the CCI where they lived.
*Names changed to protect identity
Published – November 20, 2024 02:42 am IST
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