Andhra couple likely to retain seniority in adoption process

State Adoption Resource Agency writes to CARA

The couple from Andhra Pradesh who had returned the baby under their foster care to its biological mother in Kerala may retain their seniority in the adoption process.

The State Adoption Resource Agency is understood to have written to the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to maintain the seniority of the couple in the adoption process.

If a baby, which is given in foster care or adoption, has to be returned for no fault of the foster-care or adoptive parents, State agencies usually request the Central authorities to retain the seniority of such parents, sources privy to the process said.

The parents can opt for the States from which they wish to adopt the baby. Once babies are available for legal adoption from those States, the allotment process, which is a system-generated one, will be set in motion. There is absolutely no human intervention in the process of allotting a baby. The allocation process is run in a transparent manner even while maintaining the confidentiality of the process. One cannot predict how and when the allocation process of the baby starts, sources said.

The baby of Anupama S. Chandran, who was given in foster care to the Andhra Pradesh couple, was reunited with its biological parents on November 23 after Ms. Chandran moved a court complaining that her consent for the adoption process was obtained illegally. The Family Court, Thiruvananthapuram, ordered that the baby be handed over to its mother as a DNA test had confirmed that Ms. Chandran and B. Ajith Kumar were the biological parents of the baby boy.

The issues related to the adoption of the baby of Ms. Chandran have come to an end and no proceedings regarding the adoption process are pending before the Family Court. The Member Secretary of the State Adoption Resource Agency too had moved the court stating that it had received a complaint from a woman, who claimed that she was the biological mother of the baby who was given in foster care.

K. Biju Menon, the Family Court judge, had ordered that all the adoption proceedings shall be ‘dropped and summarily dismissed’ as the biological mother had come forward to receive the child.

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