Relaxed adoption norms from today

New rules while opting for kids with special needs

The Adoption Regulations, 2017, will come into effect from Monday. The rules to implement the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015,  were issued by the Women and Child Development Ministry on January 4. The rules provide for a time-bound adoption process.

The new regulations will replace the guidelines of 2015.

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 who want to adopt children with special needs.

According to the rules, a committee will examine such cases which require relaxation.
The committee for giving relaxation will be headed by chairperson of the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA). It will also include the secretary and the director of the CARA. There will be one representative from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
The CARA will put up details of the child available for adoption.

The time limit for the completion of the process of adoption after application is 60, 30 and 15 days under different categories of adoption.

The Adoption Regulations, 2017, stipulates that the age limit for adopting a child up to four years of age should be 45 years for a single parent. For a couple, the composite age should be 90 years.

For adoption of children between ages of four and eight, the age should be 50 and 100 years respectively, for single and couple categories. This should be 55 and 110 years to adopt a child above 8 years.