Adoption rules relaxed for parents who lost kids

The government has relaxed rules for adoption for certain categories of parents including those who have lost their child to sickness or accident and those want to adopt children with special needs.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has issued a circular which says that a committee will examine such cases.

The committee for giving relaxation would be headed by the chairperson of the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA). It will also include the secretary and director of the CARA. There would be one representative from the AIIMS.

According to the relaxations, the guidelines would be softer.

The current guidelines put the age limit for adopting a child of up to four years of age. The composite age of parents must be 90 years or below while for single parent, it should not be more than 45 years.

The composite age should be 100 years and 50 years in case of single parent for adopting a child between four to eight years. Child above eight years can be adopted by parents with composite 110 years or below and 55 years in case of individual parent.

Those who have also been given relaxation include PAPs waiting for more than three years or leaving abroad for long-term assignments.

The circular says that prospective parents would also be referred to those children who have not been adopted even after 10 referrals.