16,856 children adopted within India since 2015-16; girls account for 75% of adoptions

12,550 adopted children were below two years while 725 were below three years

Over 16,800 children, including 9,895 girls, were adopted within the country in the past six years with those less than two years accounting for almost 75 per cent of the adoptions, according to Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) data.

The data collated by the Ministry also showed that 725 children below the age of three months were adopted between April 1, 2016, and February 3, 2021.

According to the data and placed in Parliament during the first leg of the Budget Session, a total of 16,856 children up to the age of 18 years were adopted between 2015-16 and 2020-21 up to February 3. Of this, 6,961 were boys.

The fiscal 2018-19 recorded the highest number of adoptions in the past six years at 3,219, followed by 3,214 in 2017-18 and 3,210 in 2016-17. In 2015-16, in-country adoptions were only 1,881 while in 2020-21, it was 2,160 as on February 3.

All these years, girls were the most sought after for adoption in comparison with boys. The number of boys who were adopted ranged between 732 and 1,354 in a year while that of girls was between 1,149 and 1,890 during this period.

An analysis of the age group of children being adopted showed that those below two years were the most favourite -- 12,550 such children were adopted in the past six years, accounting for 74.45 per cent of the total. Of the 12,550, girl children accounted for 8,099 while 4,451 were boys.

The least number of adoptions was in the age group of 14-18 years where only 59 -- 26 boys and 33 girls -- were adopted.

Only in the age group of 6-8 years, the number of adopted boys (203) was higher than that of girls (198) during the six-year period.

In the age group of 2-4 years, there were 1,370 adoptions, including 760 girls while in 4-6 years. It was 419 boys to 470 girls and 169 boys and 181 girls in 8-10 years. In 10-12, it was 80 boys and 102 girls and in the 12-14 age group, it was 59 boys and 66 girls.

As per Section 38 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said, orphaned and abandoned children are required to be declared legally free for adoption within two months in case of a child up to the age of two years and within four months in case of a child above the age of two years.

Surrendered children are required to be declared legally free for adoption after two months (reconsideration period) from the date of surrender of the child.