Government issues directions to states, UTs to fast-track adoptions

NEW DELHI: The Centre today set a target of 50,000 adoptions by December next year and issued strict instructions to all states and union territories to clear pendency of cases before Child Welfare Committees, preparation of Home Study Reports and declaration of legally free children to fast-track the process.

In a national workshop on review of women and child related schemes, WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi also urged all states to register every Child Care Institution (CCI) with Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), saying it will help in reducing both child abuse and trafficking.

Expressing concern that most states do not have Specialised Adoption Resource Agency (SARA), Gandhi said there are only 411 adoption agencies on CARA's list with a little over 800 available children whereas around 9,000 parents are waiting to adopt a child.

"We have revised the guidelines of CARA but there were very few adoption agencies in every state. There are only 633 Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and 278 State Adoption Agencies (SAAs) operational in 677 districts which should be otherwise one each district under the law," she said.

The minister asked the states to ensure creation of CWCs in each of their districts and call for a regular review of their performance.

"There are certain CWCs which do not work at all and because of which adoptions are held up. As many as 3682 adoptions have been held up due to non-completion of Home Study Reports (HSR) by CWCs," she said.

There are also only 616 District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) in the country to conduct the studies.