E-Paper
Ambala court allows NRI couple to adopt minor siblings
The children's stepmother had refused to accept them and the grandparents are too old to care for them anymore so their New Zealand-based parental uncle and aunt moved an application to adopt them
In a rare instance, an Ambala court has allowed an NRI couple to adopt minor siblings — their nephew and niece — after the children’s stepmother refused to accept them.
The siblings’ paternal uncle who is of Indian origin holds a permanent visa of New Zealand while his wife is a citizen of the country. The minors — a 13-year-old boy and his 11-year-old sister — reportedly get along well with the couple who had come to India in 2019.
The separate applications were cleared by the court of Sangeeta Rai Sachdev, additional principal judge (family court) on May 3 and May 5, almost one-and-a-half months after it was moved by the couple in March.
As per the orders, the judge, while approving the adoption said it was in the interest of both the children and fresh documents will be prepared by the authorities. The biological father had no objection to the adoption, the order reads.
“The man had married another woman almost after six months after the death of his first wife in 2010 and has a 10-year-old boy with his second wife. Apparently, their second mother refused to accept them and the children do not relate to her as their mother. They are being cared by their grandparents, who cannot sustain the burden of this responsibility at this age,” the order read.
Sukhvinder Singh Nara, the couple’s counsel said that as per the process, proper verification through Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and an in-camera consent from the children was taken by the court.
“The Ambala court issued the guidelines under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and Hague Convention On Protection of Children And Cooperation In Inter-country Adoption, to which India and New Zealand are signatories,” Nara said.
