Inspect all child care homes run by Missionaries of Charity: Maneka Gandhi

Taking cognisance of the recent controversy surrounding the Mother Teresa-founded Missionaries of Charity (MoC), women and child development minister, Maneka Gandhi, has instructed all states to get the child-care homes run by the foundation inspected immediately.

All child care institutions (CCI) should also to be registered and linked to the country's apex adoption body within a month, the minister ordered.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and protection of Childre) Act, 2015, makes it mandatory for the CCIs to be registered and linked to the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).




The MoC attracted controversy earlier this month when a nun along with a woman employee from the Jharkhand branch of the charity were arrested by the state police for child trafficking. The child care home, allegedly involved in selling three children and giving away another one, was also sealed by the authorities.

The Missionaries of Charity stopped organising adoptions in India in 2015 saying they disagreed with government rules that made it easier for single, divorced, and separated people to adopt children.

Currently 2.3 lakh children are being provided for by CCIs, registered or unregistered, in the country as per the National Commission for Protection of Children Rights.


(With inputs from PTI)