Earlier this year, India amended its Juvenile Justice Act to speed up the child adoption process, a decision spurred partly by large numbers of minors being orphaned or abandoned during the Covid-19 pandemic. For a country with an estimated 3.1 crore orphans (according to UNICEF) and where nine out of 10 abandoned children are girls (as per reports), the adoption process is relatively cumbersome, easily taking 3-4 years.
On an average, India records 3,500 in-country and nearly 500 inter-country adoptions every year, show data by the Central Adoption Resource Authority under the women and child development ministry. Adoptions dropped in the last two years owing to the pandemic.
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Data from 2020-21 show the highest in-country adoptions were recorded in Maharashtra (593), followed by Tamil Nadu (353), Karnataka (227), Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal (197 each). More girls are adopted every year than boys.
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When it came to inter-country adoptions of Indian children in 2020-21, USA led the list (217), followed by Italy (65), Spain (34), Malta (25) and Canada (24).
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The Covid-19 pandemic led to over 5.3 lakh deaths in India and insufferable losses among people. Entire families were wiped out and over 10,000 children orphaned, according to government records. Close to 500 minors were also abandoned during this period.
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Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of orphaned and abandoned children during Covid (2,153), followed by Odisha (1,621), Gujarat (1,210), Rajasthan (732) and Maharashtra (722). The impact was so massive that the Centre had to introduce separate schemes for the welfare of such children. The PM CARES for Children funds education and health needs of orphans, and also provides financial aid from the age of 18.
However, when it comes to willing parents opting for adoption, the unending legalities and technicalities, coupled with bureaucratic delays, prove tedious and emotionally taxing for them. Even the Supreme Court in August urged streamlining of the process. “Can you imagine a three to four years period to adopt a child in India? It should be made simpler. There are thousands of orphan children waiting to be adopted,” the court had urged.
