As many as 24 children, two siblings and a pair of twins, at the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare found new homes with 22 families from September last year to March this year.
The children have been placed with the parents after a fresh set of Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) guidelines came into force on August 1, replacing the guidelines of 2011. As per the new guidelines, all adoptions will follow the online process.
The council had restarted the adoption process in July last year after a gap of 16 months. In the interim, it had overhauled the process in accordance with the CARA guidelines of 2011 to bring in more transparency.
Procedures, including scrutiny of applicants and house visits, were followed, at the end of which 28 Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) qualified for taking home 35 children below the age of three. Not all the couples who were found eligible appeared to adopt the children. ‘Matching’ sessions during which parents were shown the children and medical examinations of the children were conducted. Couples who did not make choices got two more opportunities. All this took a couple of months.
In the meanwhile, the new CARA guidelines as per which the adoptions have to follow the online process came into effect. Online applications were allowed earlier too. However, now, offline applications have been completely stopped.
A visit to the CARA office ensured that the couples who had completed the matching process did not lose their seniority, a social worker said. Depending on priority, the next steps for adoption got under way. The online process was made mandatory only for the rest of the PAPs.
Under the online procedure, no manual registration of Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) or matching or referral of any child to any PAP by any agency are allowed. On the basis of seniority, the PAPs can view the photographs of up to six children, and reserve one child within 48 hours for possible adoption. After their suitability is assessed, they could meet the child. Once the child is accepted, she or he is taken in pre-adoption foster care by the PAPs. The case has to be heard and disposed of by a court in two months from the date of filing of adoption petition by the specialised adoption agency in court.
Of the 22 parents who adopted the children, at least eight had applied online. A number of parents are in reserve too, awaiting no-objection certificates.
