The government will set up Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB) in all districts in the state, Social Welfare Minister Geetha Jeevan said on Saturday.
Speaking at an awareness workshop on adoption organised for Principal District Judges by the Department of Social Welfare and the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority, Ms. Jeevan said new JJBs will be set up in 22 districts. Also, with funding from the Integrated Child Protection Scheme of the Centre, it is proposed to set up a specialised adoption agency in every district. This institution will ensure that the orphans and abandoned children are rehabilitated into a family atmosphere best suited for their growth through adoption.
So far, in Tamil Nadu, 22 adoption agencies have been licensed; of them, nine organisations are licensed to undertake inter-country adoption. So far, 3,779 children have been given in adoption within the country, 359 children have been sent to families abroad and 58 children have been adopted by non resident Indians, the Minister said. She expressed the hope that meeting with District judges would help resolve the issues of delays in the legal process of getting sanction for adoptions.
Madras High Court Chief Justice H.L.Gokhale said the old Hindu law provided for adoption, but there was no particular system in place for doing so. So the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA) was passed. Currently, three laws govern adoption in India – HAMA, Guardianship and Maintenance Act, and Juvenile Justice Act, he added. He urged the participating judges to also examine the issues of custody of child in case of legal separation of the couple and suggested that a separate workshop be organised for judges on the Juvenile Justice Act.
Citing Supreme Court judgements, Madras High Court Judge Elipe Dharma Rao stressed on the need to provide a conducive environment for the child to grow in. “Children are to be looked after and groomed well, not merely on the basis of constitutional or statutory provisions but also with great human touch and concern,” he added. While assessing the cases of adoption and the cases involving the rights and interests of the children, the paramount consideration will be the interests of the child.
Madras High Court judge Ibrahim Khalifulla said the district judges were the legal authorities who could validate or certify an adoption. In 1984 the Supreme Court, in the Lakshmikanth Pandey case defined the Do's and Don't's for adoption in India. While the processes and system itself was intricate, the idea is to treat the adopted child on a par with biological children.
The laws governing adoption have become more and more stringent over the years in order to ensure that no unscrupulous element enters the picture, Chief Secretary K.S.Sripathi said. Principal Secretary, Social Welfare, P.Rama Mohan Rao, said the focus was swiftly turning from welfare to a rights-based approach; from institutional care to family-based care. Social Welfare Commissioner M.P.Nirmala said the department would soon organise a workshop on the JJ Act.
