No adoption agencies in many districts of AP

Visakhapatnam: Several districts of the state, particularly the newly constituted ones, do not have functional specialised adoption agencies (SAAs). The agencies are tasked with the care and well-being of every orphan, abandoned, and surrendered child and aid in the process of adoption.

Even though structures/buildings for these agencies were developed long ago, delays in recruitment have made them non-operational. For example, staff recruitment at Paderu centre has been delayed due to local demands for allocating all posts to a particular community. Similarly, all 12 posts remain vacant in Nandyal, and 11 out of 12 posts are yet to be filled in Konaseema district. Of the 156 posts sanctioned for the 13 newly formed districts, 72 posts are currently vacant.

The Supreme Court recently criticised several states, including Andhra Pradesh, for non-adherence to its directive to create an SAA in each district. Chief secretaries of all these defaulting states have been asked to file compliance affidavits on or before Aug 30. In the absence of SAAs in some districts, adoption cases and children are being referred to centres in the erstwhile combined districts. For example, the Visakhapatnam centre has to serve the needs of children from Anakapalli and ASR districts.

Lack of these agencies in some districts is making waiting period longer for prospective adoptive parents (PAPs). It is already taking more than 3-4 years even for referrals. For instance, only around 80 to 100 children are placed for adoption each year in AP, while thousands of PAPs have registered for adoption. The long waiting periods has often led some people to opt for illegal routes, resulting in child trafficking.

An investigation into the sale of an infant in Hyderabad recently exposed an inter-state child trafficking racket. Eleven children, aged between 23 days and three years, were rescued from different parts of Telangana and AP in this incident. According to NCRB report, AP records nearly 300 child trafficking cases annually.

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