Process of issuing adoption orders comes to halt in Maharashtra

PUNE: The process of issuing final adoption orders to prospective adoptive parents has come to a standstill in Maharashtra since January 11, a day after Bombay high court stayed implementation of a notification authorizing district collectors to pass such orders.

Child adoption agencies said the move has further delayed issuance of the final adoption order to prospective parents in waiting since September last year, after the amended Juvenile Justice Rules were notified.

The notification of the 'Model Amendment Rules 2022' to implement the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act 2021, which came into force on September 1 last year, empowered district collectors to issue adoption orders, which were till then the domain of the district courts.

However, after the HC order stayed the new rules' implementation in January this year, adoption agencies have been unable to obtain adoption orders for prospective adoptive parents.

Prajakta Kulkarni, founder of Snehankur Adoption Centre, told TOI, "We have 13 older children currently in foster care with their prospective parents, who have been waiting for the final adoption order since September 2022. The absence of an adoption order is affecting various processes, such as preventing the parents from getting the child's birth certificate required for admitting him/her into a school or get Aadhaar made."

She said, "While the HC directed single-judge high court benches to issue adoption orders to pending cases in the interim, we have been unable to get the children's adoption files back from District Child Protection Units (DCPUs). We had given these files to DCPUs to be submitted to the district collector for approval. Until we get these files back, we cannot approach the HC bench for an adoption order."

A senior official from state women and child development department said, "This is a delicate procedure and DCPUs cannot return these documents till official orders from the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) are received."

A senior official from the state women and child development department said the process for issuing adoption orders after January 10 has indeed stopped for the time being and some headway could emerge after February 14, when the court is expected to give a final decision. "This should not be a problem for new adoptions of January this year because the district magistrate anyway has to dispose of an application for making an adoption order within a period of two months," the official said.

The official said, "Most of last year's applications (over 130) seeking final adoption orders in Maharashtra were cleared by the respective district collectors, before the HC stay."

Pallavi Padole, deputy director, Varadaan Indian Association for Promotion of Adoption and Child Welfare in Nagpur, said, "We have five such children whose prospective parents are still awaiting final adoption orders since October 2022."

The director at an adoption agency in Pune said, "We have one case pending from September last year, where prospective parents are still awaiting final adoption order."

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