Context:
SC calls for collaborative efforts to bring children into the adoption pool.
About Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA):
- Statutory body – Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015
- Launched in 1990
- Aim – To oversee child adoption procedures, in the best interest of the child, for Indians and non-resident Indians living abroad.
- Mandate –
- To monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
- To deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of Hague Convention, 1993.
- Nodal agency – Ministry of Women & Child Development
- Functions of CARA –
- Promote in-country adoptions
- Facilitates inter-state adoptions in coordination with State Agency
- Frames regulations on adoption and related matters from time to time as may be necessary
- It regulates State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA), Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA), Authorised Foreign Adoption Agency (AFAA), Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and District Child Protective Units (DPUs)
CARA became a signatory to Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation of 1993 and India ratified the convention in 2003.
Procedure for Adoption:
- Adoption means a legal process that allows someone to become the parent of a child, even though the parent and child are not related by blood.
- Legal framework –
- Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (for Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists) and
- The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015
- Procedure –
- Child and parent data centralized in Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) by CARA.
- Parents register through CARINGS.
- Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA) conducts Home Study, referral, and adoption process.
- Parents take child for pre-adoption foster care.
- SAA petitions court; legal process initiated.
- CARA conducts 2-year post-adoption follow-up.
- Child Welfare Committees declare child legally free for adoption.
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
Consider the following organizations/bodies in India:
1. The National Commission for Backward Classes
2. The National Human Rights Commission
3. The National Law Commission
4. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
How many of the above constitutional bodies?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2023 Prelims]
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) Only three
(d) All four
Answer: (a)
