Amaya Datatreya (name changed), 32, a software engineer from Bangalore lost her sister and brother-in-law in a car accident last year. And although she has been raising their three-year-old daughter as her own, she wasn't able to legally adopt the child.
But now, with the government planning to promulgate new adoption laws, Datatreya's prospects are bright. These new laws will allow prospective parents to adopt a child from within a family.
What is this new provision?
Most prospective parents, who wish to adopt children from within their families, will now be able to do so, thanks to the Draft Adoption Regulations, 2016.
The new draft policies that have been uploaded on the Women and Child Development Ministry include a provision for ‘in-country relative adoptions’ and ‘inter-country relative adoptions.’ This will be implemented in September this year.
Although the draft is yet to be finalised, a senior official of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) told PTI that this provision would be part of the final regulation.
Once it is put into place, it will supersede the Adoption Guidelines, 2015, that had no mention of adoption within family. This news comes as great news for not only perspective parents, but also for children.
But before you set out on this long journey, here are a few pointers you must know about adoption in India.
Adoption rules in India
The CARA has some strict rules of adoption in India. In fact, they have specifically listed the procedure of adoption on their official website. But here's what you basically need to know:
- Any Indian or Non-residential Indian (NRI) can adopt a child. This is if they are physically, mentally and emotionally stable, financially capable, motivated to adopt a child, and do not have any life-threatening medical condition.
- Marital status and previous children are not a bar, but a single male cannot adopt a girl child.
- Married couple who have had a stable relationship for more than two years, can adopt a child.
- The minimum difference of age between the child and the adoptive parents should be 25 years.
- The total cumulative age of the parents should not be more than 110 years and if its a single parent then the age cannot exceed 55 years.
Read: India’s youngest single dad set to marry Indore girl in unique ceremony
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