Will lengthening adoption wait and new surrogacy-artificial reproductive assistance laws push couples closer to black market adoption?

On a flight from Mumbai to Delhi last week, this writer happened to sit next to a young couple who became parents for the first time in the pandemic. During the small-talk that followed, they revealed that the baby wasn*t their biological offspring. After unsuccessfully trying to conceive for six years, they got "lucky" when their friend*s sister-in-law, who couldn*t afford to raise her third child, sought a home for her son. "After much consideration, we took her baby boy," the mother shared. The couple hadn*t even given adoption or surrogacy a thought, because of how "tedious the process has become".

With adoption in India being routed by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and the government recently notifying new laws to regulate surrogacy and assisted reproductive technology, several Indian couples are deferring their dreams to become parents. Experts, however, fear that many desperate couples might go the illegal way.

Infertility is at the heart of the problem. According to research conducted by Inito, a Bengaluru-based medical technology company, around 27.5 million couples who want to conceive, currently suffer from infertility. The World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision report estimated that the fertility rate of Indians (measured as the number of children born to a woman), had plummeted by more than half in the short span of 40 years - from 4.97 per cent during 1975-80 to 2.3 per cent in 2015-20. By 2025-30, the report projects that the rate would have nosedived further to 2.1. A fertility rate of about 2.2 is generally considered the replacement level - the rate at which the population would hold steady. When the fertility rate dips below this number, the population is expected to decline.

With lowering fertility, adoption and surrogacy seem to be the next best options for couples. But recent protocol and laws have complicated the state of affairs.

According to the latest reports (February 2022), 234 children have been adopted by Maltese parents so far. Sangeeta Bahadur, the Indian High Commissioner to Malta, told TVM News that Maltese parents adopting children from India is another link in the chain that is strengthening ties between India and Malta. Ms. Bahadur also stressed that the relationship between India and Malta is excellent and that India received support from Malta during the pandemic and on other occasions as well.

The Minister for Social Policy and Children’s Rights of Malta, Dr. Michael Falzon, at a conference on Adoption National Strategy revealed that a record number of children were adopted by Maltese families in 2018, and more than 70 % were from India. In the year 2018, it was considered the best year for adoption in the last 10 years. He noted that the best interests of the children are always the priority in this process of adoption. Furthermore, Dr. Falzon stated his focus on furthering the adoption strategy in Malta. Different countries follow different rules of adoption in Malta. With India’s adoption procedure being less intricate and highly accessible than most other countries, it has greater records of adoption from India.

The process of adoption is convenient in India with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), which was established by the Ministry of Welfare, Government of India in 1990. CARA regulates, monitors, and promotes the adoption of orphans, abandoned, or surrendered children, with the principal aim of finding loving families for children who need care and protection. An international webinar held on the occasion of International Adoption Month 2020, “Adoption across Borders: Sharing of Experiences,” was chaired by the Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani. It was attended by esteemed dignitaries and diplomats from India, along with 12 central authorities of foreign countries, 14 Indian diplomatic missions, and 3 foreign embassies who participated in the webinar. The Central Authorities of Malta and France also presented their views and best practices. A Maltese couple who pursued the adoption of a second child from India were stuck during the lockdown in 2020. However, a few weeks later, they traveled back to Malta, adopting and thanking each other during the adoption process in India.

On March 24th, 2021, the High Commissioner of Malta in India, H.E. Reuben Gauci, met Mrs. Smriti Irani, to discuss women’s rights and the adoption of Indian children by Maltese families.

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2AFtVKoEu0

A local adoption agency that specialises in bringing children from India to Malta opted to cancel its party at L-Arka Ta’ Noe in Si??iewi after a public status by the establishment’s owner was interpreted as “xenophobic”.

Anton Rea Cutajar, the park’s owner, posted a status to his Facebook page, saying he “wishes that cowboys would come to Malta so that we stop seeing Indians around”.

“Workers at the grocers are Indians, workers at supermarkets are Indians, cab drivers are Indians, everywhere you look, it’s Indians,” he wrote in the now-deleted status.

A parent of an adoptive child informed Lovin Malta that the venue for the party was changed after the organisers saw his Facebook post and found it offensive and in bad taste.

“We had a Christmas party planned for our adoptive children from India booked there! Obviously, it was canceled after seeing this post,” the parents told Lovin Malta.

Bombay High Court

Bal Anand vs Shaun Farrugia, Maltese National ... on 16 June, 2022

Bench: B.P. Colabawalla

1. fap 9-22..doc

Digitally

Bombay High Court

Adharashram vs Raymond Micallef,Maltese And Anr ... on 16 August, 2017

Bench: Rajesh G. Ketkar

1

903.FAP.40-17.doc

Bombay High Court

Mswc, Asha Sadan vs Carlos Abela And Maruska Abela ... on 6 June, 2019

Bench: B.P. Colabawalla

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION

Two prospective adoptive mothers are waiting day-by-day to be enabled to travel to India to bring back their children, a process that stopped abruptly with the onset of the pandemic. To Television Malta the two mothers stated that for months they have suffered a Calvary because of fears the children may have become ill … or may perhaps perish … because of the virus surge that has brought India down on its knees.

Anamika Farrugia is five-year-old. She was adopted from India three years ago by a Gozitan couple. She is desperately waiting for her adoptive sister to be brought from India as well.

Her mother said that this morning Anamika told her she is going to buy her a present but will not give it to her until her sister Sathvika arrives and then they will give her the present together.

In her innocence Anamika thinks her sister wants to remain In India and does not want to come to Malta.

Her adoptive mother says that Anamika asks her whether Sathvika has changed her mind and does not want to join them. Adoptive mother Angie Farrugia says such a question gives her great consternation.

Prospective adoptive parents from Malta and Italy talk to Gaon Connection about being stuck in a limbo as COVID-19 restrictions in India leave them in an unenviable position.

When prospective adoptive parents, known in the adoption parlance as PAPs, start their adoption journey, they know that it involves a lot of paperwork and requires a lot of patience. The process is all the more exhausting when it is international or inter-country adoption.

What happens when after successfully going through each stage of the adoption process – from registering with the agency, filing the requisite paperwork, overcoming bureaucratic hurdles, completing home study reports, being placed in the queue to finally be matched with a child, a process that can often take more than two years – the prospective adoptive parents are suddenly stopped in their tracks?

From being just days away to bringing their child home to suddenly in limbo. The wait can be torturous.

As is with Angie and Kevin Farrugia, residents of Malta, who are anxiously keeping tabs on every bit of news coming in from India, especially those pertaining to international travel, that is, the resumption of commercial international flights. As per the latest news, the Indian government has extended the ban on international flights till July 31.

Delhi District Court

Welfare Home For Children vs Applicant on 27 November, 2020

IN THE COURT OF MS NEENA BANSAL KRISHNA

PRINCIPAL DISTRICT & SESSIONS JUDGE

SOUTH EAST : SAKET COURT, NEW DELHI.