Adoption of Indian kids by foreigners declining

Fewer children from India are getting adopted abroad, a trend being attributed to stringent norms for foreigners coupled with the fact that more and more Indians are coming forward to adopt. Moushumi Das Gupta reports,

Fewer children from India are getting adopted abroad, a trend being attributed to stringent norms for foreigners coupled with the fact that more and more Indians are coming forward to adopt.

While 1364 children were sent for inter-country adoption in 2000, the number has declined to 589 in 2011, according to data released on Monday at the International Adoption meet. As against 589 inter-country adoptions, 5903 children were adopted within India.

“The declining trend can be attributed to stringent regulations following concerns over child laundering in the garb of adoption. Also, it reflects that more and more Indians are coming forward to adopt children,” Dr Peter Selman, professor at UK’s Newcastle University and an international adoption demographer who is in India to attend the meet told HT.

Of the 589 children from India who were sent for inter-country adoption, 52% went to Europe while 36% went to USA.

In 2011, while China topped the list of countries which sent the maximum number (4405) of children for inter-country adoption, India was ranked eighth after Ethiopia, Russia, Colombia, Ukraine, Korea and Vietnam.

Shelman said that some of the Asian countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Nepal had to suspend inter-country adoption following evidence of illicit activities by individuals and adoption agencies.

Child rights activists in India have been raising the issue for a while. “We have been demanding a moratorium on inter-country adoption till such time that domestic laws are strengthened to check exploitation of children in the garb of adoption. Presently we just have guidelines for adoption which is simply not enough. There is an urgent need for a comprehensive adoption law,” said Bharti Ali of HAQ, a child rights group.