New child adoption regulations

New child adoption regulations_Chetan Chauhan _ (http://www.hindustantimes.com/Search/Search.aspx?q=Chetan%20Chauhan&nodate=1) , Hindustan Times New Delhi, July 11, 2007 No more parents would be able to claim their child back once adopted, the government has proposed in the new regulation for child adoption. The draft guidelines on adoption of Indian children without parental care released on Wednesday proposes to bring all adoption orphan, abandoned or surrendered children under Juvenile Justice Act, 2006, thereby giving legal sanctity to the adoption process. JK Mittal, chairperson of Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), said: Once child adoption comes under JJ Act, there will be uniformity in the child adoption process in the country. Secondly, adoption will mean legal separation of the child from his or her biological parents. Under the new guidelines, the time required for adoption has been reduced to three months from existing six months. “The courts will have to settle adoption claims in two months as per the JJ Act, Mittal said, thereby fastening the process. The government also wants to adopt the international child adoption standards. For this, Hague convention regulations have been incorporated in the proposed guidelines. It will result in a major change with the child getting citizenship immediately after touching the country of his or her adoption. Normally, it takes two-three months. No more inter-country adoption will be allowed through an agency. Foreigners will have to directly apply to CARA, which will then direct them to a registered agency for child adoption. It will break nexus between agencies, Mittal said. The guidelines also propose mandatory state government registration of all childcare homes. Women and Child Development minister Renuka Chowdhury said the government will make HIV/AIDS test mandatory for all children admitted by the adoption agencies. CARA will also create a central data bank on children for adoption within India and outside, the draft guidelines say. The guidelines have been released for comments from public and final draft is likely to be ready for Cabinet consideration within a month, Mittal said.