#RealityCheck Indians Do Not Want To Adopt Children With Special Needs Says Bombay High Court

Indian couples do not adopt kids with special needs, said the Bombay high court on Friday, reacting to the central adoption agency's objection to a trained American nurse, married to an Indian and settled in the country since 2008, getting custody of such a six-year-old. Currently, the American and her husband are foster care guardians of the boy, an arrangement the high court ordered to be continued. The judges posted the hearing after a week, when it will pass orders and dispose of the petition.

A bench of Justices V M Kanade and B P Colabawalla rebuked the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), the nodal body for adoption of Indian children, for following rules only in letter and said it would lay down guidelines for a situation where one parent is Indian and the other a foreigner who has been granted the status of person of Indian origin.

"Whenever there is a child with special needs, in India, parents do not opt for taking these children," said Justice Kanade, adding that it has been his experience while dealing with adoption matters and it is borne out by records.

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Union government advocate D A Nalawade, appearing for CARA, which functions under the ministry of women and child development, said the court may continue "the foster care arrangement" but reiterated the agency's opposition to the adoption. "She still holds an American passport. Though a PIO, she continues to be an American,'' he said. "What is important? Do we follow the law in letter or in spirit? Our anxiety is that the child should not go to the remand home,'' said Justice Kanade on Monday, recalling that in a similar case, the child was sent to the remand home.

Observing the child interact with his foster mother in court during the hearing, the judges said "he looks quite comfortable'' and "very happy".

When Shirin Merchant, the couple's lawyer, pointed out that CARA's guidelines is silent on cases where one parent is Indian and the other a PIO, the judges agreed an "important question" has been raised which includes welfare of a child who, if not given in adoption in this year, will have to be sent to the remand home. "We'll decide in such cases what is to be done. We'll lay down the law,'' said Justice Kanade. The orphanage has a licence to keep abandoned and destitute children till they are six. They must be sent to remand/observation homes as they grow older.

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At the last hearing on June 26, Nalawade had argued that there are 8,693 Indian couples waiting in queue to adopt children and the American cannot expect to jump it. "We have to follow rules," he said, adding that otherwise it will jeopardize the entire process.

Justice Kanade's statement that Indian couples do not adopt children with special needs was supported by Radhika Dalvi, founder of the orphanage Arun Aashray where the boy was lodged and where the American while volunteering grew close to him. The child has faced rejection thrice and suffers from behavioural problems, she said. He also suffers from asthma and needs special care. "How many more rejections will he face?'' she asked.

The boy was abandoned by his unwed mother as she re-married and her new husband was unwilling to accept him. Nalawade argued the American, as a trained nurse with an adoption agency, now claims she has developed a bond with the boy. "There are similar cases. There are at least 20 cases,'' he said.

The judges said sometimes CARA officials go straight by the book. "We are aware of certain institutions that have violated the law. We have passed orders for closure of such institutions,'' said Justice Kanade.

The judges set the next date a week later after hearing that due to a delay in adoption procedures following CARA's insistence on its no-objection certificate, the child's birth certificate cannot be produced and so his school admission cannot be regularized.

(Originally published in The Times of India)