My thoughts for this Saturday

Streamlining Indian Adoptions

India’s software exports have crossed 30 billion dollars per year and they are expected to be doubled in the next five years. Apart from the cheap labor, this phenomenal success is attributed to the higher intellectual power of Indian IT professionals.

World also is witnessing more and more complex problems (such as protecting millions of dollars in the banks, enabling millions to communicate over mobile phones) being solved with technology so my thinking is, "why can’t the process of adoption be streamlined using technology"?

I suggest that there be a secure web based application called “Software to Empower Adoptive Parents” (STEAP). Such an application will have a common interface for all the stakeholders (Government, Adoption Agencies and Adoptive Parents) yet each one can only access limited pertinent information. For example,

• The government will have access to all the information
• Adoption agencies could have access to filing tax (FCRA) returns, entering child/ payment/ employee/ facility status and matching adoptive children to the prospective parents etc.
• Adoptive families can have access to an assigned child status, payment details, status of application and submitting post adoption reports etc.

Without a doubt, this requires a strong resolve of Ministry of Women and Child Development of India to invest in technology, train their man power to embrace such a change and to upgrade the technology continuously. Human nature will resist the change but those that are in-charge of protecting the lives of the defenseless have the responsibility to change with times to remain relevant, effective and efficient.