The Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA)
CARA is a statutory body set up on the basis of the Supreme Court Guidelines of 1984. It is an Autonomous Body under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment , Government of India and was set up on 20th June, 1990 to deal with all the matters concerning adoptions in India. Its objective is to help both Indian and foreign agencies involved in inter country adoption of Indian children to function within a prescribed framework so that such children are adopted legally through recognized agencies and no exploitation takes place.
Functions of CARA
CARA maintains a List of Recognized Foreign Agencies for Adoption and circulates the same once every year, to the various High Courts in India, all the State Governments, all recognized Indian agencies, all voluntary coordinating agencies, all scrutinizing agencies and all Indian missions abroad as well as all passport offices.
CARA likewise maintains a List of Recognized Indian Adoption Agencies. Once a year the list is published in three leading newspapers (in English, Hindi and the regional language of that State). The list is also sent to all the High Courts in the country for circulation to the District Courts in each State, all the State Governments, all recognized Indian placement agencies, all foreign enlisted agencies, all Indian Missions abroad, all voluntary coordinating agencies and scrutinizing agencies.
CARA liaises with Indian diplomatic missions abroad in order to safeguard the interests of children of Indian origin adopted by foreign parents against neglect, maltreatment, exploitation or abuse and to maintain an unobtrusive watch over the welfare and progress of such children. This is done by informing every Indian diplomatic mission concerned whenever an Indian child is taken in adoption or for the purpose of adoption, by foreign parents.
CARA arranges every year a meeting of all recognized placement agencies, voluntary coordinating agencies and scrutinizing bodies for discussing matters of mutual interest and such other matters as are considered necessary and expedient.
CARA Office Orders and Circulars issuing/revising guidelines on adoptions are as follows :
CARA by their Office Order effective from May 05 , 2004 have re-iterated guidelines regarding prioritasion of NRIs in International Placements.
"... to register all NRI parents whose applications have been forwarded through Enlisted Agencies. As and when any child becomes available for inter-country adoption after VCA clearance,it should be referred to NRI parents registered with the agencies. In all cases of inter-country adoption,priority will be given to NRI parents registered with agencies and all NOC applications will have to certify that such priority has been considered. ... "
The CARA communication to Voluntary Co-ordinating Agencies dated July 23 , 2004 re-iterates the priority to be given to in-country adoptions
"...In order to ensure that all efforts are being made to place a child within the country, it is decided that if the concerned VCA is not able to find a suitable family, the details should be circulated to all other VCAs through email. If on the completion of 30 days (as stipulated by the Supreme Court), no parents have been referred to by other VCAs, a clearance may be given for the inter-country adoption of the child ..."
CARA by their Office Order effective from November 01, 2003 have revised the guidelines governing :
- Age criteria for adoptive parents both for In-country and Inter-country adoption and
- Adoption fees for in-country adoption.
The following criteria. will now, apply to both, In-country and Inter-country Adoptions.
Age
- Infants preferably up to 12 months can be placed with adoptive parents whose composite age is 85 years and where
neither parent has crossed 45 years.
- In the case of older adoptive parents, the age of the child has to commensurate as far as possible with the age
difference of the parent e.g. a child is 1 year + may be placed with a 46 year old, 2 years with a 47 years old.
- A child may be placed in adoption before it reaches the age of 12 as far as possible.
- In case of Special Needs children with medical problems, the age limit of adoptive parents may be relaxed by CARA on
case to case basis.
- However, in no case the age of an adoptive parents should be above 55 years.
Charges for In-country Adoption / Placement
- Maintenance charges shall not exceed Rs. 15,000/- at the rate of Rs.50/- per day from the date of admission till the
child is placed in pre-placement foster care.
- In case of special medical care, hospitalization charges subject to a maximum of Rs. 9000/- may be claimed on
production of actual bills.
- Legal fees and scrutiny fees to be charged on actuals.
The CARA Order is effective from 01.11.2003 and was issued by,
S.K. Mishra
Joint Director-CARA
Click here to visit the CARA website
