Plight of orphans in TS no adoption for years

Even after the formation of new State, authorities seem to be insensitive towards the plight of orphans, while Andhra Pradesh has provided legal parentage to 341 deprived children in the last two years

Hyderabad: ‘Bangaru Telangana’ does not seem to offer any ray of hope for the deprived children in ten districts of the State as the State and District Adoption Resource Agencies (S&DARA) have not been functioning for many years.

These agencies, which are supposed to work to provide legal parentage to the deprived children, have become almost non-functional. According to the information obtained under RTI Act from the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) which functions under Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, Telangana adoption agencies are in the last position compared to other States in the country for the past many years.

So far, Telangana adoption agencies have provided legal parentage to only 12 children since 2005. A senior official from the Department Women and Child Welfare on condition of anonymity said the main reason for this was that the State had not allotted enough funds to the district agencies. So, they are not in a position to advertise and bring awareness among people and hence after 2010 there has been no legal adoption.

“We are soon going to release legal child adoption advertisement in movies, hoardings and through pamphlet during this year,” he said. Interestingly, DARA in the 13 districts of Andhra region are working actively and provided legal parents to 2,368 deprived child in a last ten years (since 2005).

The AP adoption agencies have provided legal parents to 194 children in 2008, 231 in 2009, 493 in 2010, 477 in 2011, 360 in 2012-13, 272 in 2013-14, and 341 children during 2014-15. On the other hand, there has been no legal adoption from any of the 10 centres in Telangana region after 2010. Even after bifurcation, no efforts were made in that direction.

According to the mandated guidelines, parents willing to adopt a child have to register with CARA website and have to follow legal proceedings. The parent has to choose the State adoption agency and has to upload basic documents for identity. The agency, in turn, within 30 days, will get back to the parent with the list of available children online.

Once, the parent selects the child, CARA will assist the aspiring parent by filing adoption petitions in the court and once the order is issued, the parent becomes a legal guardian of the child. The norms also say that adoption done outside the CARA is considered as an offence.
(CARA In-country legal Adoption statement during 2014-15)
State Number of legal adoptions
Maharashtra 947
Karnataka 411
Andhra Pradesh 341
West Bengal 300
Tamil Nadu 228
Telangana 0