The authorities/agencies involved in Inter-country adoption will be
- Competent Court
- Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)
- Central Authority in the receiving Country (CA)
- Indian Diplomatic Missions Abroad
- Foreign Diplomatic Missions in India
- Authorised Foreign Adoption Agency (AFAA)
- State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA)
- Recognised Indian Placement Agency (RIPA)
- Adoption Recommendation Committee (ARC)
- Adoption Coordinating Agency (ACA)
Stage I : Registration for NRI/OCI/PIO/Foreign PAP(s)
a) PAP(s) desiring to adopt
child/children from India may register with the Authorized Foreign
Adoption Agency (AFAA) or Central Authority/Government Department
dealing with adoption matters in the receiving country.
b) The PAP(s), with the help of AFAA/CA
should obtain the permission of the competent authority of their
country for adopting a child from India.
Stage II : Home Study and Other requirements
a) A professional social worker of the
AFAA or Central Authority/Government Department dealing with adoption
matters in the country of the habitual residence(365 days or more) of
the PAP(s), shall conduct their Home Study and shall prepare the HSR.
b) All documents forming part of the Home
Study Report should be notarized and the signature of the notary is
to be apostilled by competent authority of the receiving country. If
the documents are in any language other than English, then the
originals must be accompanied by translations in English attested by
competent authority
c) The
HSR of PAP(s) shall remain valid for a period of two years. However,
the medical status of the PAP(s) should not be more than one year old
at the time of referral of the child.
d) The
Home Study Report should also indicate preferences, if any, of the
PAP(s) about the child’s age, sex, physical/medical condition, or
location within India.
Stage III: Identification of RIPA by CARA
a) The AFAA/CA/concerned Government
Department of the receiving country shall forward one
attested/notarized copy of the HSR(not original) directly to CARA for
identifying a suitable RIPA. The AFAA/CA/concerned Government
Department of the receiving country, as the case may be, may indicate
their preference for a particular RIPA(s), if any. However, indicating a
preference will not be an assurance that the dossier will be sent to
the RIPA indicated by them.
b) CARA shall have a Screening Committee to
examine the prima facie suitability of PAPs proposed for inter-country
adoption. This Committee, headed by an official of CARA, shall also
consist of:
- A child development expert/psychologist
- Legal expert
- Professional Social Worker
- Medical expert
c) If, prima-facie, CARA finds the
PAP(s) suitable, it shall identify a suitable RIPA within a period of
fifteen days keeping in mind the request of the PAP(s), preference for
a particular RIPA(s) ,availability of children and performance of the
RIPA vis-à-vis in-country adoptions, etc . CARA reserves the right to
forward the dossiers to any of the RIPAs as per decision of the
Screening Committee.
d) The identified RIPA shall be informed
by CARA. CARA shall also advise the concerned AFAA/CA/Government
Department to send the original dossier to the identified RIPA.
e) Identification of RIPA by CARA will
in no way ensure referral of a child from India. It will not be
obligatory on CARA to ensure referral of a child.
f) RIPA shall not entertain any
application received directly from any AFAA or CA or PAPs from out of
India, for adoption of an Indian child.
Stage IV : Referral and Acceptance
a) RIPA shall be responsible for assigning, referral and placement of the child.
b) In case a RIPA does not find the
PAP(s) suitable after detailed scrutiny of their dossier, it shall,
within 15 days of receipt of the original dossier, inform CARA about
the same along with the reasons thereof.
c) After detailed scrutiny of the dossier
and their acceptance as eligible PAPs, the RIPA shall match a child
according to the request given by the PAP(s) as far as possible.
d) The RIPA shall forward the referral
constituting CSR and MER of the child to the AFAA/CA/concerned
Government Department of the receiving country.
e) AFAA/CA/concerned Government Department of the receiving country shall transmit the referral to the PAP for acceptance.
f) On acceptance of the child by the
PAP(s), the AFAA/CA/concerned Government Department of the receiving
country shall send back the original copy of the “referral for
adoption” to RIPA, along with the following documents:
(i) Notarized/ attested copy of the CSR and MER duly signed by PAP(s), and;
(ii) Power of attorney in favour of the official/social worker of RIPA for filing the case in the court.
(iii) A certificate under Article 5 or agreement under Article 17
of the Hague Convention, as applicable, issued by the CA/competent
authority of the receiving country
This process shall be completed by the AFAA/CA within 45 days of the receipt of the referral.
Stage V : Recommendation for Inter-country Adoption by ARC
a) The State shall constitute a Committee
to scrutinise and issue Recommendation Certificate for placement of a
child in inter-country adoption. This Committee would be designated
as Adoption Recommendation Committee (ARC) and would
consist of Director/Commissioner of the State Deptt. dealing with
children in need of care & protection or his representative,
Programme Manager(Non-institutional care-SARA) and one external child
expert/ Psychologist who has no linkage with any adoption agency. Till
SARA is operational in the state, the chairperson of ACA or his
representative will be part of the Committee (in place of Programme
Manager) along with the other members as stated above.
b) On receipt of referral accepted by the
PAPs, the RIPA shall forward two copies of the dossier which includes
HSR of the PAPs and the CSR (including MER) duly signed by the PAPs
to SARA/ACA alongwith a cheque/draft of Rs.2,500/- favouring
SARA/ACA. This amount would be utilised for processing the dossiers,
payment to external experts and for other adoption promotion
activities.
c) The dossier shall contain all documents along with affidavit on stamp paper by the RIPA
d) SARA would act as a secretariat to
this committee. It shall receive the dossiers of cases for inter
country adoptions from the RIPA and put up the same before the ARC for
issue of Recommendation certificate. Till SARA becomes operational in
the State, the ACA would perform this function.
e) The SARA/ACA shall ensure that the
recommendation certificate is issued expeditiously within a period of
15 days from date of receipt of dossier.
f) In
case of a special needs child, the SARA/ACA should issue the
Recommendation Certificate within a period of 5 days from receipt of
dossier,. In case of medical special needs, the SARA/ACA may ask the
RIPA to get a Certificate from the Government Medical Officer.
g) In case of siblings and older children, the procedure and time limit specified in sub para (d) shall apply.
h) The
Committee constituted for issue of Recommendation certificate should
satisfy itself about the suitability of the PAPs vis-a-vis the child
proposed for adoption. It shall also verify the documents filed by the
RIPA and ensure that procedures have been correctly followed by the
RIPA. In case, at any stage, SARA/ACA/ARC is not satisfied with the
documents produced for obtaining recommendation certificate, it shall
conduct appropriate investigation before disposing off the matter.
i) The
Recommendation Certificate (RC) issued by the Committee shall contain a
positive recommendation that the Committee has no objection to the
child being placed with the proposed PAPs in inter-country adoption.
Stage VI : Issue of No Objection Certificate (NOC) by CARA
a) Upon issue of recommendation
certificate by the Adoption Recommendation Committee, the SARA shall
retain one copy of the dossier and send the second set of dossier
along with recommendation certificate to CARA. Till SARA becomes
operational in the State, the ACA would perform this function. A copy
of the RC shall also be sent to the concerned RIPA.
b) CARA shall constitute a ‘No Objection
Certificate (NOC) Committee’ which would include at least one external
expert in the field of child development/ psychology/social work.
This committee would be responsible for issuing ‘No Objection
Certificate’ in each case of inter-country adoption.
c) The NOC Committee constituted by CARA
shall examine the relevant documents submitted by the RIPA and verify
that due procedures as laid down in these guidelines have been
followed. The committee shall also examine whether matching and
placement of the child with PAPs is in the best interest of the child.
d) After approval of the proposal by the NOC Committee, the NOC would be issued in each case.
e) CARA reserves the right to reject any
case for inter country adoption which is not found suitable by the NOC
Committee by recording reasons for the same.
f) The process for issue of NOC would be
completed within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of
completed dossier in CARA.
g) NOC would be issued in accordance with Article 17 of the Hague Convention.
h) A copy of the NOC issued by CARA shall
be mailed to RIPA and a copy thereof to SARA/ACA, AFAA/CA/concerned
Government Department of the receiving country.
Stage VII: Pre-adoption Foster Care
(a) The child can be given in physical
custody by the RIPA to the PAP(s) in pre-adoption foster care only
after issue of NOC by CARA.
b) The adoption agency in India shall
inform the PAPs that such foster care shall have to continue till such
time that the final adoption order is issued. The child in foster
care, shall under no circumstances, be returned to the adoption agency
by the PAPs for temporary care unless there is a disruption and the
PAPs do not wish to go ahead with the adoption.
c) The Indian adoption agency before
physically entrusting the child to PAPs shall inform them that the
adoption process may take more than the stipulated period, so as to
enable the PAPs to take an informed decision regarding taking the
child in foster care.
d) The PAPs shall not be allowed to take
the child out of the city without the written permission of the
concerned Indian adoption agency.
e) The PAPs would be required to produce a
certificate from the competent authority of the receiving country
permitting them to take the child in foster care. The PAP(s) shall
also be required to sign a foster care affidavit stating that they
would not leave the country without valid court order.
Stage VIII : Filing of the Petition in the Court
a) Within 05 days of receipt of NOC from
CARA, RIPA shall proceed to obtain a Court Order from the competent
court in India along with the requisite documents . RIPA shall not file an application in the competent court for inter-country adoption without “NOC” from CARA .
b) Inter-country
adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children shall proceed
under the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act
2000, as amended in 2006.
c) In accordance with the directions of
the Honourable Supreme Court of India in the case of L.K.Pandey vs
Union of India(WP No 1171 of 1982), the competent Court shall dispose
off the case within a maximum period of 2 months from the date of
filing.
d) As each case for inter-country
adoption will be processed by CWC, State Government through the ARC
and CARA, the competent court may, to the extent possible, dispose of
the case in the first hearing itself in the best interest of the
child.
e) The RIPA shall forward a copy of the court order and the adoption deed to CARA/SARA/ACA/AFAA/CA.
f) On receipt of the Court Order, CARA
shall issue a Conformity Certificate (CC) under Article 23 as per
provisions of the Hague Convention.
Stage IX : Passport and Visa
a) No orphan, abandoned, surrendered
child who has been adopted shall be allowed to leave the country
without a valid NOC from CARA.
b) The RIPA shall apply for passport for
the adopted child after the court order is received. The application
shall include documents mentioned in Para 6.8 of these Guidelines.
c) The concerned authorities shall
expeditiously (maximum of ten days in case of passport) issue the
passport/visa to enable the adopted child to leave with
his/her adoptive parents to their habitual
place of residence(Reference Circular No VI/401/118/2000 dtd 3.1.2001
of Ministry of External Affairs).
Stage X : Child travels with adoptive parents
The adoptive parent/parents shall have to come to India and accompany the child back to their country.
Stage XI : Progress Reports
The AFAA/CA/concerned Government
Department of the receiving country shall keep CARA and concerned RIPA
informed about the progress of placement through quarterly
post-placement reports during the first year and half yearly reports
during the second year of the child’s arrival in the receiving
country. Such follow-up shall continue upto a period of two years
after the child acquires citizenship of the receiving country
