Amid pandemic, CARA eases norms for those seeking to adopt

NEW DELHI: Amid restrictions on movement due to the Covid-19 pandemic, registered prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) will now get 96 hours as against the earlier period of 48 hours to convey to the authorities if they are keen to adopt the child whose profile has been referred to them.
When the referral process resumed on June 15 after easing of lockdown, profiles of over 650 children staying in adoption agencies were referred to PAPs. Of the total referrals made, eight pertain to inter-country adoption.
The adoption process in the current situation is largely dependent on the digital interface and virtual meetings and with most offices working at reduced strength, the Central Adoption Resource Authority has also decided to make the matching period of 20 days flexible after prospective adoptive parents confirm that they wish to adopt a child whose profile is referred to them.
CEO of CARA, Deepak Kumar, told TOI that the decision to bring in some flexibility in time-lines has been taken in view of the fact that families may take longer when they plan to visit the child because of restrictions on movement in different states due to the pandemic situation.
Also PAPs are now most likely to meet the child they wish to adopt over video conferencing in the first meeting at the stage of matching and acceptance after the referral process. They will then need to plan their visit to the specialised adoption agency where the child is placed.
In the first week of June, around 25,000 parents were waiting to adopt and there were 2700 children (including 1400 children with special needs) legally free for adoption. For now, CARA has decided to allow referrals only once a week instead of twice a week to enable more time for documentation in view of reduced staff strength.