INTRODUCTION:

Adoption can be a most stunning solution not only for childless couples and single people but additionally for abandoned children. The practice and custom of adoption in India dates back to the ancient time. Adoption is one of the few concepts that have undergone a profound change from early to modern age.Though the objective with which the act is carried has differed but the act of adoption still remains the same^1.As the word adoption sounds ad and opt this is considered as a challenge to many in the world as they need to undergo many procedures to have an adoption. So it is challenging. The child who is adopted will make a differ identity, parents, siblings, culture, family, society, familial history, medical history etc. The persons/ parents are adopting will faces the same challenges to make the acceptance of the child to their culture, family, society and so on. Moreover the legal constraint has a major concern in adoption.

As per the statistics of CARA (Central adoption resource authority) the rate was high in India during the period of 2010 (6321) to 2011 (6593) and after a fall 2015-16 (3677) the rate of adoption is increasing in each year (2018-19 - 4027).²

Figure 1: Statistics of adoption by CARA

What is adoption?

“Adoption is the establishment of a parent-child relationship through a legal and social process other than the birth process. It is a process by which a child of one set of parents becomes the child of another set of parents or parent”

Need of adoption:

1. Adoption as a development of family completion.

2. The increment in cases of infertility in reproductive age group couples.

3. Positive attitude towards adoption.

4. Legal policies and procedures which guides in desired directions.

5. The change that makes through adoption in the society for a post adopted parents.

6. To avoid the monotony of life in those couple without child or who are divorced or having single life status.

7. To avoid hereditary transmission of sickness through pregnancy or delivery.

Forms of adoption.⁵:

Different types of adoptions are available in India based on their impact on adoptive parents and mother birth.

1. Open adoption:

This means that the adoptive parents and the birth parents keep in touch with each other.

2. Semi-Open Adoption:

This is a kind of adoption that does not involve direct contact between the birth parents and the adoptive parents.

3. Closed adoption (also called confidential, shut or secret adoption):

Which closes the exchange of information and visitation between the biological and adopted parents of an adopted child.³

Types of adoption^4,5:

1. In-country Adoptions:

Means adoption of a child by a citizen of India residing in India. The Indian prospective adoptive parents irrespective of their religion, if interested to adopt an orphan or abandoned or surrendered child.

2. Inter-country Adoption:

Involves adopting a child from outside the country.

In India, there is no separate act that governs adoption by foreign citizens or NRIs but it is covered under Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children, 2015. Before1970’s not many Indians wanted to adopt an unrelated, child whose parentage was unknown. The parents who adopted kept it as a family secret due to the social stigma and try to adopt unrelated child. This prejudice and social stigma within the Indian family and social culture created a possibility for inter-country adoption to gain its random in the 1960’s. Financial affordability by foreign adoptive parents made the process of adoption an easy and attractive proposal to the Indian adoption agencies. This makes the agencies to work with foreign parents who try to adopt.⁶

Adoptions laws in india^1,6-9:

Adoption- with the aid of legal course ensures irrevocable rights to both adoptive parents as well as adopted child. The main purpose of drafting this legislation was to provide care and safety to children. In India, there are 3 major existing legislations. The citizens of India can adopt underneath three essential legislations.

1. The Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 (GAWA):

Prior to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000, this become the most effective regulation only legislation which allowed non-Hindus (those not covered under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act 1956) to adopt.

· The parent adopting is called a ‘guardian’ and the child is a ‘ward’ hence the child does not have the same rights as that of a biological child.

· Any child under the age of 18 can be a ward.

· Unlike the HAMA 1956 where adoption is irrevocable, the guardianship can be revoked by the courts or by the guardian himself. Also, here both spouses can legally be guardians whereas under HAMA a married man/woman cannot adopt without the consent of the wife/husband.

· Single people can adopt without any age difference restrictions.

2. Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 (HAMA):

This act applies to all Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs and it came into force on 21^st December 1956. A few eligibility criteria points of this Act are:

Eligibility of adoptive parents:

· Only a Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, or Sikh husband above the age of 18 can adopt under this act only with the consent of his living wife (Husband is the adopter and wife is merely consenter).

· A single female (unmarried, divorcee or widow) can also adopt (Sec 8 (c))

· A person having a male child can not adopt a male child

· A person having a girl child can not adopt a girl child

· Age difference between the adoptive father and the adoptive girl child to be at-least 21 years

· The child has to be below 15 years of age

3. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act):

This act mainly deals with the care and rehabilitation of children irrespective of the fact that they are biological or adoptive. According to section 56 of the Act orphan, abandoned or surrendered children may be adopted, irrespective of the relation, religion, country barrier by the orders of competent court. Prospective adoptive parentsdesiring to adopt shall upload the entire information as required in Form VI (JJ Act 2015 and Adoption Regulations, 2017) with option of State and get registration and shall choose the nearest Specialized Adoption Agency.⁸)

Adoption regulations, 2017⁷:

Come into force on the 16th January, 2017. As per those regulations

Fundamental principles governing adoption:

The following fundamental principles shall govern adoptions ofchildren from India, namely:

1. The child's best interests shall be of paramount consideration, while processing any adoption placement

2. Preference shall be given to place the child in adoption with Indian citizens and with due regard to theprinciple of placement of the child in his own socio-cultural environment, as far as possible

3. All adoptions shall be registered on Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System and theconfidentiality of the same shall be maintained by the Authority.

Child eligible for adoption:

The following shall be eligible for adoption:

1. Any orphan or abandoned or surrendered child, declared legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee

2. A child of a relative

3. Child or children of spouse from earlier marriage, surrendered by the biological parent(s) for adoption by the step-parent

Eligibility criteria for prospective adoptive parents.¹³:

1. The prospective adoptive parents shall be physically, mentally and emotionally stable, financially capable and shall not have any life threatening medical condition.

2. Any prospective adoptive parents, irrespective of his marital status and whether or not he has biological son or daughter, can adopt a child subject to following, namely:

a. The consent of both the spouses for the adoption shall be required, in case of a married couple;

b. A single female can adopt a child of any gender;

c. A single male shall not be eligible to adopt a girl child;

3. No child shall be given in adoption to a couple unless they have at least two years of stable marital relationship.

4. The age of prospective adoptive parents, as on the date of registration, shall be counted for deciding the eligibility and the eligibility of prospective adoptive parents to apply for children of different age groups given below table

Age of the child	Maximum composite age of prospective adoptive parents (couple)	Maximum age of single prospective adoptive parent
Upto 4 years	90 years	45 years
Above 4 and up to 8 years	100 years	50 years
Above 8 and up to 18 years	110 years	55 years

5. In case of couple, the composite age of the prospective adoptive parents shall be counted.

6. The minimum age difference between the child and either of the prospective adoptive parents shall not be less than twenty-five years.

7. The age criteria for prospective adoptive parents shall not be applicable in case of relative adoptions and adoption by step-parent.

8. Couples with three or more children shall not be considered for adoption except in case of special need children.

Challenges related to adoption^10,11,12:

Adoption is a lifelong process that shapes children and their families. Many challenges are faced with adoption in various aspects are namely-

Legal challenges:

· The delay in acceptance of declaring legally free.

· Obtaining clearance certificate by child welfare committee.

· Getting the delay in getting correct applicants for the ward.

· Delay in taking cases by the court.

· Absence of family/ district court judges.

· Follow up by child welfare committee for a definitive period can make the procedures more harder.

Social challenges^4,5:

· Acceptance of child as a part of family ad society.

· Feeling of separation from the place lived till these days.

· Loss of identity is also a concern.

· Feeling of low self esteem.

Cultural challenges¹¹

· Children may feel rejection.

· Struggle to find a space for them among the peers.

· Clarifications which made about the past make difficulties in child.

· Cultural background itself makes few issues.

Familial challenges¹²:

· Familial adaptation as a daughter/son, granddaughter/son and other roles also.

· Adaptation to the family, relatives, new environment, continuation of relations and so on.

Personal challenges:

· School related issues.

· Personal likes and dislikes may vary in new environment.

Medical challenges:

· The history of medical conditions may vary.

· The process of understanding the medical problems also changes.

CONCLUSION:

An adoption is a sacred act so it should be executed by the people at a massive scaleas it gives safe and secure life to child who needs it. Adoption agencies are now functioning as organized sectors closely monitored by the state and central government. The laws and legislation in India supports the entire process of adoption to be completed as early as law permits. As per the suggestions the entire process of adoption needs to have a pre and post preparedness in both parts to lead a stable post adoption family.

REFERENCES:

1. Child adoption law in India — a step by step guideAvailable from: https://medium.com/@sinhaamit095/child-adoption-law-in-india-a-step-by-step-guide-

2. Role of court procedure and judiciary for adoption- central adoption resource authority- ministry of women and child development in India from:, https://www.cara.nic.in

3. Forms of adoption from:, https://world_same-sex-adoption-laws.org

4. Dr. Deepak Sharma (PhD).2017 Need to Understand Adoption-Its ways and Hurdles Available from:.https://www.ijsr.net/archive/ v8i2/ART20194723.pd

5. Aarohi Achwal,6 Different Types of Adoption Options in India – Pros and Cons. [online] Available at: https://parenting.firstcry.com /articles/types-of-adoptions-in-india/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2019].

6. Introduction to child adoption in twenty first century Available from:https://blog.ipleaders.in/all-you-need-to-know-about-child-adoption-laws-in-india/

7. Overview of Adoption Laws in India 2017Available from:https://lawtimesjournal.in/overview-adoption-laws-india/

8. Ministry of women and child development. Adoption Regulations, 2017.Available from MMhttp://cara.nic.in/PDF/Regulation_ english.pdf

9. Karthik MV, Dhanasekhar, Child adoption in India- challenges and issues, International journal of pure and applied mathematics/ Vol.120: 2018, page no 4325-4333.

10. https://consideringadoption.com/adopting/parenting-an-adopted-child/four-challenges-adopted-children face- and how-you-can-help.

11. Challenges of adoption in India from:, https:// www.shodhaganga.inflibnet.ac.in

12. Dudley, William. Issues in Adoption. GreenhavenPr, 2004 from:, https:// issues-in-adoption/-

13. https://www.scribd.com/document/406101294/Child-Adoption-Laws-in-India-converted-1

Received on 28.04.2020 Modified on 12.05.2020

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2020; 8(3):407-410.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2660.2020.00090.3