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Bengaluru: The number of child adoptions in Bengaluru has increased by nearly 72% in five years between 2020-21 and 2024-25 and the state saw a 20% increase over the same period, according to the Adoption Resource Authority (SARA) data that also flagged the long waiting time for couples.
In Karnataka, there are 21 government-run and 24 privately-run specialised adoption agencies operating.
Officials observed that more couples were now open to adoption as compared to a few years earlier. However, there is a huge gap between the demand for children and children available for adoption.
“As of today, there are close to 2,279 parents waiting to get a kid for adoption and there are only 27 normal kids and 55 special needs kids available for adoption. There is a huge gap and parents have had to wait a long time,” Arundhati T S, Deputy Director, State Adoption Resource Authority (SARA), told DH.
The minimum waiting period for parents is two years and this rises with increase in preferences of parents, officials said.
“Parents can choose two states based on their background or even cluster of states, like they can choose their preference as South India. As the number of states increases, the options they get also increases and this might bring down their waiting period,” Arundhati added.
In recent years, officials have also observed that there are more people who want to adopt as a single parent.
“Even today, the majority of them are couples who have not been able to conceive. However, over the last few years, we have seen more unmarried people who are willing to be single parents and have shown keen interest in adopting,” one of the officials said.
Most of the parents also wish to adopt children who are younger than five years as this could help them bond well.
“Younger the children, the better it is," say parents. While preference of gender is almost equal. Over the last years, we have definitely noted an increasing interest towards adopting a girl child,” yet another official said.
November is observed as National adoption awareness month.