By IANS
New Delhi : Union Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury said Friday that courts would be sensitised and the “painfully long procedure” for adoption would be cut short soon.
“When we talk about children, especially of kids who are very young, time is a very important factor. Children when they are young, develop very fast,” said Chowdhury at a press meet ahead of the second international conference on adoption to be held in the capital Oct 8-10.
“Hence, if a child is six months old and thanks to the long procedure, he is one year by the time he is handed over to his adopting parents, a whole life stage is missed by the parents.
“These are the crucial times when the parent and the child actually bond and we must ensure that these important moments are not missed by the parents or the child,” Chowdhury told IANS.
The average time taken for intra-country adoption is four months, while for an inter-country adoption it is six months.
Chowdhury however maintained that under no circumstance would the safety factor be compromised.
“One of the things that we have now ensured is that all the adoption agencies have to be registered under the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).”
“That way, any child that they give away for adoption will be monitored. And if there is any untoward incident later, we can trace back the case right on,” Chowdhury said.
To further tighten the system, Chowdhury said that each state would form a State Adoption Resource Authority (SARA), which would monitor all the adoptions carried out in the state.