Gujarat sees sharp drop in adoption in four years

The number of adoptions in the state has gone down drastically in the past four years, and several factors including the new online adoption system of CARA is believed to be responsible for the decline. Against 175 children adopted from Gujarat in 2014-15, the number dropped to 31 in 2017-18 (till July 2017). The data was revealed by the Women and Child Development Department in reply to a question.

It should be noted that the central and state figures on adoption vary because the data was compiled at different times.

An officer closely associated with adoption in the state said the decline was because the entire process now had several checks and balances in place and it takes time to do these. "Earlier, if a prospective parent came to an agency for adoption, they could take a look at the children available and make a choice. If not, other prospective parents could be called within a day or two. But now the prospective parents select a child online, and then they have to reserve the choice within 48 hours. After that they meet the child, and the entire process (whether the parents finally choose the child or not) takes at least a fortnight," said the officer.

According to him, despite the new process being relatively slow and thus affecting adoption figures, it is a better system as it provides for better scrutiny of applicants. "Moreover, thanks to the online system, no one now tries to bully the officials or skip the line," said the officer.

Not everyone agrees. Chandrakant Patel, a trustee of Kathiyawad Balashram in Rajkot, said the online process had led to a decline because it was a more cumbersome process and wait was longer.

"The idea of an online centralised system was to bring transparency. But what the centralised systems has ended up doing is pair parents with children without taking into consideration cultural and emotional aspects," said Patel.

He recounts the case of a child who had been selected for adoption through the online system. "But he was always paired with a couple from outside the state who for some reason or the other never turned up," said Patel.

He said that under the centralised system, the pairing problem was faced when a child is a bit older, say four or five years, and already adapted to the culture and way of life of a state. "So when a child from Gujarat is paired with a couple from Kerala, imagine the level of adjustments both have to make," said Patel. He said that every prospective parent has to give three states as their choice from which they wish to adopt. "Now, if you insist on a child from your own state the wait could be very long," said Patel. He said the system was brought into place to prevent wrongdoings by orphanages, instead it ended up punishing everyone.

"What CARA needed to do was have better monitoring of the special adoption agencies," said Patel who had written an eight-page letter explaining the drawbacks of the new system.

The officer also agrees that when it comes to adopting children above the age of 3, the choice should be restricted to within the state as the child has already picked up the language and culture.