Draft Guidelines For Adopting Children Leave Nuns And NGOs Unhappy
Draft Guidelines For Adopting Children Leave Nuns And NGOs Unhappy
Published Date: July 23, 2007
Certain guidelines that a federal agency has proposed to regulate the adoption of children are unhelpful, say Catholic nuns and NGOs.
On July 11, the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), an autonomous body under the federal ministry of women and child development, announced the guidelines, purportedly to ensure transparency in adoption dealings.
CARA chairperson J.K. Mittal told UCA News on July 16 the guidelines aim to plug “loopholes” in the adoption process, check child trafficking and reduce processing time. According to Yespal Debas, CARA´s secretary, the guidelines will help simplify adoption procedures in India. “Earlier, there were a lot of dilemmas and misconceptions on adoption of children,” Debas told UCA News.
Debas also explained that the guidelines will benefit Christians, Muslims and Zoroastrians who, under present laws, cannot legally adopt children but only become legal guardians, so those children have no inheritance rights.
Mittal noted that the new guidelines aim to “bring all religions under one fold, irrespective of caste or creed.”
Sister Marianne, who handles adoptions for the Missionaries of Charity (MC), says this aim is “definitely good” because it would ensure the rights of the adopted child. Even so, the Kolkata-based nun and other people told UCA News that they have reservations about certain other recommendations.
Until now, Indian agencies processed applications for inter-country adoption and routed them through CARA-approved foreign agencies. The new guidelines make CARA the sole authority to receive and scrutinize such applications.
“With regard to inter-country adoptions,” Mittal pointed out, “foreign agencies must, from now on, contact CARA, which in turn will get in touch with adoption centers.”
Sister Marianne said the MC nuns deal with just five non-profit overseas agencies they trust to find suitable families for the children. These agencies choose families for the children, not children for the families, she asserted. One such agency is in Italy, two are in Belgium and two are in Switzerland.
The agencies give the nuns a list of families, and the nuns interview the couples before finalizing adoptions. Such measures, she said, are important because most children in MC homes have medical abnormalities. The nuns then send the details of approved adoptions to CARA for no-objection certificates.
Sister Tresa Maria, a Jesus, Mary and Joseph nun who manages Tender Loving Care Home, which arranges adoptions, told UCA News the new proposals empower CARA to send adoption centers details from various countries and agencies, but the guidelines give these centers no scope to scrutinize foster parents. The home is in Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh state, 1,500 kilometers south of New Delhi.
Sister Maria also noted that the guidelines do not ensure CARA will do the necessary screening. “Will CARA take the responsibility of monitoring the wellbeing of children adopted by foreign couples?” she asked.
The Indian agencies also get regular reports about the children from their overseas foster parents, she pointed out, and if they do not get reports in three or six months, the Indians contact their overseas agencies.
Savithri Samson and Loraine Campos have told UCA News they also resent the changes. Samson, manager of John Abraham Memorial Home in Andhra Pradesh, said nobody can work without help from foreign agencies. Campos, who works with the Delhi Council for Child Welfare, said CARA would not “know our children and their background to place them in a suitable family.”
Campos also stressed the need for placement agencies and CARA to discuss the matter before implementing the proposals.
Other CARA recommendations include reducing an adoption´s six-month processing time by half and mandating HIV testing for children admitted by adoption agencies. Samson said she is happy about the reduced processing time. “As of now, it takes a minimum of six months to one year or more,” she said.
Campos acknowledges that the reduced time will help more children find a home, “but I don´t think it will be practical.”
Sister Marianne said that the process takes more than three months since most children come to the MC nuns malnourished and with various handicaps, so the nuns must nurse them before searching for families. Moreover, she added, court proceedings and passport and visa procedures also take time.
END