The Supreme Court has instructed the government authorities to make sure that every two months, the exercise of identifying children for adoption is carried out.
The Apex Court said that the list of such children who are open for adoption in the country should be updated on a bi-monthly basis.
A bench comprising of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, along with Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra noted that under the present legal regime, prospective parents have to wait for three to four years to adopt a healthy child.
The Court in its order said that the prospective parents in order to adopt a healthy kid have to wait for 3 to 4 years to adopt a healthy young child for adoption
The Court added that most parents prefer to take children in the age group of upto two years . The court thus issued a direction that exercise of identification shall be carried out on bi-monthly basis.
Two petition were been heard in the top court seeking easing of adoption and foster care norms.
NGO Temple of Healing in its plea sought for formulation of an adoption scheme by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The other plea that the Top court was dealing with asked for removal of administrative delays in providing vulnerable juveniles access to adoption, foster/kinship care and sponsorship facilities as per the Juvenile Justice Act of 2015 (JJ Act).
That petitioner stated that the cuntry currently faces decline in adoption rates in the country, specially those for specially-abled kids, as well as the virtual non-existence of foster care and sponsorship despite being provided for in the JJ Act.
The Court was informed that the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) in conjunction with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed a child adoption resource guidance system.
As on August 1 this year, the portal had registered 36,967 prospective parents as against 7,107 children.
The Court in its order directed the State government in charge of enforcing the Juvenile Justice Act, and asked them to compile data for Union Women and Child Ministry.
The States and Union Territories that have not set up adoption agencies were directed to do so.
The case will next be taken up on January 31, 2024.