New rules for int’l adoptions

The Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) has imposed new conditions for No Objection Certificates (NOC) in case of international adoptions.

The Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) has imposed new conditions for No Objection Certificates (NOC) in case of international adoptions.

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Apart from a declaration by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) that the child is free to be adopted, “a certificate will be required from the state government that there are no parents available for adoption of such children within the country and the case can be considered for inter-country adoption”.

In cases where foreigners are adopting children with special needs, a certificate would be required by a medical board constituted by the government specifying the nature and percentage of disability.

These would be in addition to CARA’s existing guidelines.

The affidavit was filed in response to petitions by seven prospective foreign parents — three each from Spain and Italy and one from Canada — who had applied for adoption through the Pune-based Preet Mandir.

The adoption house had come under scrutiny after a sting operation by a news channel showed them selling babies for a higher price to foreigners.

Jagannath Pati, deputy director, CARA, filed an affidavit in the Bombay high court, saying they had imposed new conditions for international adoptions. Vinod Joshi, counsel for CARA, informed the court on Tuesday that they would clear foreign adoptions only after the new conditions were fulfilled.

In a related development, another bench of the high court has allowed Preet Mandir to continue providing facilities to 86 children in the adoption house. Earlier, the government had said they would relocate the children to other adoption houses.