Adoption laws in India

‘Adoption’ the word itself means that it is a legal process by which a

child is raised or brought up by a marriage couple or a single female
who agrees to take the responsibility of the child and treat her as their
own child. But is it legally approved in India? What are all the
procedures assosciated with it? Can a male adopt a child? In India do
people have right to adopt a child? You shall receive all your queries and
answers cleared in this blog post. In this blog post we will get to know a
comprehensive analysis based on adoption laws ,facts regarding
adoption, its objectives, its duration , All legal procedures related to
adoption, the effects and everything regarding it in India.

Adoption is a legally approved way of permanently placing a child with

the parents who are not their biological parents. It formulates parent
child relationship between people who are not assosciated with birth.
Through adoption a child can get a parent as well as a childless parent
can have a child.
In our country India there are several such places where many
orphanages, NGOs (non government organizations) are full of children
as they have no parents who can look after them. Its really very sad to
say that even today people are discriminating between male child and
girl child. There exist such parents who give birth to girl child and then
throw it in the dustbin.Because of such people our country’s mortality
rate is increasing as crime is increasing day by day because they commit
such henious acts. They don’t understand the value of girl child
irrespective of becoming so highly qualified. This is only because of the
stereotypical thought which the people have in their mind.
So in order to provide the legitimate rights to the child adopted
Adoption process is introduced which is a best way to give them a good
life. Adoption is now considered legal in India. The citizens of India
have also the right to adopt a child .

Who all can adopt a child:-

Each individual has the right to adopt under three major legislations
namely-
1) Hindu Adoption and maintenance act of 1956
which specifically covers Hindus, Jain's, Sikhs and
Buddhists.
Some features of this act are-
 Only married couples or single individual can adopt
 If the male wants to adopt legally then they should have the consent
from their wife
 A single man or woman can adopt
 In case a biological child already present in the family then the child
of opposite sex has to be adopted
 A single man who is adopting a girl must be at least 21 years older
than the child
 A single woman also has to be 21 years older than the child
 Children below the age of 15 years will be adopted.

2) Guardians and wards act of 1890 for Indian Nationals who are
basically Muslims, Indians and jew Foreign citizens or NRIs
 Any child under the age of 18 years can be a ward
 The guardianship can be canceled by the courts or by the guardian
 Both husband and wife can be the legal guardian
 Single spouse can adopt without any age restrictions
Under section 7 of the hindu adoption and maintenance act a male can adopt:-

1) He should be a major

2) He should have a sound mind

3) He should be competent enough to understand the provisions of act

4) The man if he is married then he shall have to take the consent of his wife as
per the court’s declaration.

The juvenile justice (care and protection ) act of 2000

amended in 2006
This is specially for the care and protection of children . By adopting
this law it confers equal rights upon the children whether they were
adopted or biological.
The main relevant parts of this act are:-
 Any citizen of India can adopt a child who is legally free from
adoption
 A single individual can adopt
 The adoption cannot be revoked
Section 58 of his act says that if any citizen of India irrespective of their
religion wants to adopt an orphan or can abandon a child can apply to a
specialized adoption agency as in mentioned in adoption regulations.
Section 57 of this act deals about the eligibility criteria of parents
which says that the parents who are adopting must be physically fit,
mentally stable, financially sound to adopt a child for looking after the
child and providing good upbringing to him.
A single individual can also adopt as mentioned in the adoption
regulations but a an individual male cannot adopt a girl child.

Who all can be adopted:-

As per our Hindu law which states that a child can be adopted namely-
The child can be either a boy or a girl if he /she is a hindu
The child should not be adopted before
The age of the child should be below 15 years
The child should not be married
As per the Juvenile justice(care and protection of children) and
Guardianship law
A child may be adopted who is not a hindu?
Who has not completed the age of 18 years that means he/she is a minor
An orphan or can be an abandoned child

General and legal rocedures for adoption:-

The parents have to register themselves from which organization they are adopting
a child.

All the documents such as Pan card of the parents, birth certificate of the parents,
identity proof, medical report of parents, Income certificate of the parents of last
year, photographs of the parents, consent from both the parents should be
submitted to the organization for adopting a child.

There are certain requirements which are required for the adoption procedure such
as:

Home Inquiry and counselling of parents:- After the parents submit all their
documents to the agency from where they have adopted the next step is some
social workers from that particular organization come to house of the parents to
study the things and to check for their satisfaction that the parents are capable
enough to adopt or not. And after that they do counselling of the parents to know
their strength, how prepared they are for adopting a child.
The child is referred to the parents:- when everything is done after the counselling
then the organization shares medical reports and other relevant information
regarding the child to the parents and then give some time to them so that they can
spend time with the child and can create a bond between them.

Acceptance by the parents:- Finally the parents accept the child and take the child
to their home by signing petition in the court.

A petition filed in the court:- The documents of adoption is handover to the lawyer
to present before the court for the process of adoption and then at the end if the
process parents sign the petition of the adoption.

Pre adoption foster care:- After the petition is signed and the process is over the
parents have to take the child to the child nursing home for pre adoption care
centre and understands the habits of the child so that they can be assosciated with
it.

Court hearing for the process of adoption:- After the parents take the child to home
they have to bring the child again for attending the court hearing. But the hearing
takes place between the parents and the judge in a closed room in which the judge
asks some of the questions to the parents and mention the amount which need to be
invested in the child’s name.

Follow up:- At last the final step in which the organization has to submit the final
report of the child’s well being in one-two years

Eligibility of adoption in India:-

 Parents should be stable for adoption

 Parents should be financially, physically capable for adoption and should be

mentally prepared.

 A single male is not eligible to adopt a girl child

 The age difference between the parents and child be 25 years

 Step parent adoption is not allowed

 If any spouse has three or more children then they are not allowed to adopt.

 The couple must be married

Age perspective:-

Maximum composite age Maximum age of

Age of
of prospective adoptive single prospective
child
parents (couple) adoptive parents.

1-4
90 years 45 years
years

4-8
100 years 50 years
years

8-18
110 years 55 years
years

Effects of Adoption:-
The child adopted cannot marry in their own natural parent’s family

Adoptive children have rights over the properties of their parents

Adoptive parents cannot adopt the adoptive children

Adoption is registered under register general

Records of adoption are always kept secret from public

Adoption cannot be revoked. It is irrevocable

Adoption in India:-
In our country India every child has the right to get adopted. It is a legal process .
India the second highest population in the world still children are not given proper
care by their parents . They are sent to orphanages ,child care centers, agencies
because of the issues and differences that takes place in their families. Sometimes
we see that many small children roaming on the road side and begging for money,
food ,dresses. And after witnessing such conditions of children people ignore them
and they don’t try to even feed them and help them when they have the capability
to do so. For these reasons maximum children in our country are left alone and
have no parents .

Through this process of adoption the childless parents can have a proper care
protection love and affection and can also have a bright future. Citizens of India
who are Hindus,Sikhs,jains and Buddhists are allowed to adopt a child. Earlier
hindu laws had many restrictions that it allowed only male to be adopted and
restrictions were placed on caste, religion. But now it has changed gender
discrimination has been reduced to a certain extent. In the modern hindu law every
male or female has the right to adopt a child provided he or she should attain the
age of majority

CONCLUSION:-
Therefore I would like to conclude by saying that adoption brings joy to children
who were abandoned. They get their rights and lead a normal life. And also a child
is given all love care protection by the parents. And the couples who don’t have
kids also get the opportunity of becoming parents that fills the empty space in their
life.

THANK YOU
BY NEHA MOHANTY