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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

13/09/22 05:36 AM IST

The tedious process of adoption

In News 
  •  District Magistrates (DM) have been empowered to give adoption orders instead of courts. All cases pending before courts have to be now transferred. Hundreds of adoptive parents in the country are now concerned that the transfer process will further delay what is already a long and tedious process.
Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021
  • Section 61 of the JJ Act: Authorizing District Magistrates and Additional District Magistrates to issue adoption orders by striking out the word “court”.
  • Empowerment of DM: The District Magistrates can:
  • Inspect child care institutions
  • Evaluate the functioning of district child protection units, child welfare committees, juvenile justice boards etc.
  • The Act and the corresponding rules came into effect from September 1. The amendments to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules, 2016 say, “all the cases pertaining to adoption matters pending before the Court shall stand transferred to the District Magistrate from the date of commencement of these rules
Concerns 
  • The revised rules have parents, activists, lawyers and adoption agencies worried as cases already before courts for the past several months will have to be transferred and the process will have to start afresh.
  • A petition for adoption orders is filed after a parent registers for adoption, who is then assessed through a home study report, referred a child and subsequently allowed to take a child in pre-adoption foster care pending an adoption order.
  • A delay in such an order can often mean that a child can't get admission into a school because parents don't yet have a birth certificate, or like in one case, parents unable to claim health insurance if a child is admitted to a hospital.
  • Parents and lawyers also state that neither judges, nor DMs are aware about the change in the JJ Act leading to confusion in the system and delays.
  • According to the latest figures there are only 2,188 children in the adoption pool, while more than 31,000 parents waiting to adopt a child
  • Trafficking: Less availability allows traffickers to take advantage of loopholes in HAMA.
Adoption in India 
  • Adoptions in India are governed by two laws — the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA) and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. Both laws have their separate eligibility criteria for adoptive parents.
  • Under HAMA, a “dattaka hom” ceremony or an adoption deed or a court order is sufficient to obtain irrevocable adoption rights.
  • But there are no rules for monitoring adoptions and verifying sourcing of children and determining whether parents are fit to adopt.
Source- The Hindu

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