By Dr Swati Jindal Garg
British author JK Rowling rightly said: “Family is a life jacket in the stormy sea of life.” But for many unfortunate children, this is far from true. However, a recent rule by the Women and Child Development Ministry has offered a ray of hope.
The rule had earlier limited foster care to only married couples. But revised Model Foster Care Guidelines now permit single individuals—including those who are unmarried, widowed, divorced or legally separated—aged 35 to 60 years—to foster a child and adopt after two years. However, while single women can foster and eventually adopt a child of any gender, single men can only adopt male children. Prior to this, as per the 2016 Model Foster Care Guidelines, only married couples, referred to as “both spouses”, were permitted to foster a child.
Universally speaking, foster care is a temporary living situation for children whose parents cannot take care of them and whose need for care has come to the attention of the child welfare agency staff. While in foster care, children may live with relatives, foster families or in group facilities. Nearly half of children who enter the foster care system will return to their parent or primary caretaker. A key goal of foster care is to ensure that they are living in stable, life-long families.
Foster care is meant to be a temporary solution that ends once a parent gets his life back on track or a relative, guardian or adoptive family agrees to raise the child involved. In India, however, children who can be fostered have to be above six years and should be living in childcare institutions and having “unfit guardians”. Minors who are placed in the category of “hard to place or children having special needs” can also be fostered.
Opening up fostering to single/unmarried widow/divorcee/legally separated people is not the only change that has been introduced. The revised guidelines have also allowed the foster parent to adopt the child after she has been in her foster care for a minimum of two years, as opposed to five years earlier.
A stringent rule for married couples who want to foster children is that “no child shall be given in foster care to a couple/spouse” unless they have had a “stable marital relationship of two years”. Earlier, there was no such caveat for married couples.
The 2016 guidelines have been revised and circulated amongst all states in accordance with the amendment to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act in 2021 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules of 2022. This stance adopted by the ministry is in consonance with the public will that clearly shows a movement towards a more open society where adultery has been decriminalised and live-in relationships have achieved legal recognition.
These changes also make more sense now in the light of the fact that while earlier, single individuals were allowed to adopt children, they were not, strangely, allowed to foster.
Satyajeet Mazumdar, Director-Advocacy at Catalysts for Social Action, an NGO that works in the child protection space in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Goa and Karnataka, reportedly said: “There were discussions in the civil society and at state levels that there was a discrepancy in individuals being allowed to adopt, but not foster. The revised guidelines remove that discrepancy.”
The revised guidelines are also more specific about the age of the foster parents. While the 2016 guidelines stated that both spouses must be above 35 years, the revised ones are more specific. They state that to foster a child in the six to 12 years range and 12 to 18 years age brackets, the “composite age of the married couple” is to be a minimum of 70 years, while a single foster parent is to be of minimum 35 years. The guidelines also specify the maximum age for prospective foster parents—up to 55 years for a single individual to foster a child in the six to 12 age bracket and till 60 years to foster a child in the 12 to 18 age bracket.
Foster parents can now also register online through the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS). The platform was already being used by prospective adoptive parents for registration and will now be utilised by those who want to join the fostering system as well. The latest guidelines provide for a designated online portal where prospective foster parents can upload their documents for District Child Protection Units to access.
Even though the system of foster care has been going on in western countries for a long time, it is still new in India. As per Mazumdar: “The number of children in foster care is few. People don’t know about foster care as well as they might know about adoption. It’s an intensive process. Many of these children have spent considerable time in institutions or have faced trauma; a lot of work is involved.”
As per the ministry data, there were 1,653 children in foster care in states and UTs, excluding Goa, Haryana and Lakshadweep in 2024 alone as of now. Between September 2022, when the Model Rules were notified, and July 31 this year, 23 children in foster care were adopted by families after two years of care, showing that the system is indeed a big help in bringing some stability in these children’s lives.
Actress Nicole Kidman who is also an adoptive parent sums up the experience of foster and adoptive parents beautifully: “Somehow, destiny comes into play. These children end up with you, and you end up with them. It’s something quite magical.”
The updated guidelines would also result in an increased awareness and interest in foster care—a system that remains relatively unknown in India. By making the process more inclusive and accessible, the government has ensured that more individuals consider fostering.
However, even though the foster care system sounds appealing and may look like an obvious solution to bridge the gap between children needing care and parents willing to provide it, it is still in a nascent stage and would need a lot of nurturing to grow. Foster care is only a temporary solution. This makes it emotionally challenging for both the children as well as the foster parents. Children may struggle with the uncertainty of their future, while foster parents may find it difficult to say goodbye when a child is reunified with his biological family or adopted. This makes it imperative to provide emotional support and counselling for both foster children and parents.
Steps need to be taken to ensure a clear communication about the goals and expectations of foster care, which will in turn help manage these emotional challenges. Increased public awareness and education, enhanced training and support for foster parents, ensuring that children are placed in foster homes that meet their specific needs and preferences, streamlining the legal and bureaucratic processes, along with addressing the financial challenges and promoting stability would be the key features in making these guidelines a success.
Mother Teresa said: “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” This sums up the importance of foster parents in creating ripples in the entire system.
—The author is an Advocate-on-Record practising in the Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and all district courts and tribunals in Delhi