There are literally hundreds of Indian families waiting to adopt children but we hear constantly that the children are being languishing in orphanages and adoption agencies for an extended period of time. Why? Logically speaking, well-balanced supply-demand market should be in harmony but why is it that in this equation (prospective adoptive families and children waiting to be adopted) children are being affected?
The answer lies in the lack of network. Allow me to explain. For example, if there’s a child waiting to be placed in a home in West Bengal and a prospective adoptive family in Hyderabad, under current circumstances, chances of these two (child and the family) being matched is next to nothing.
For quite sometime I have been promoting a technology based solution for this problem. I have advocated sometime in 2005 that software must be built (I called it ‘STEP’ or Software to Empower Parents) and all the stakeholders (adoption agencies, CARA, adoptive families, NGO’s and adoption activists) must be networked for efficient functioning.
I was glad to hear at CARA’s International conference at New Delhi in October that CARA is thinking of building such a database to connect families to children. Well… that wait may be getting closer to completion. I heard that CARA has completed the software orientation to the adoption agencies of North and South zones and the remaining zones may be done in the month of April. Launching of this software (online database) is expected to be in the month May/ June. To begin with, the database will cover all the Registered Indian Placement Agencies (RIPA) and Shishu Greh's but later on state approved agencies called Licensed Adoption Placement Agencies (LAPA's) are expected to be added.
This is a very positive development and CARA must be commended for this effort. We can say “one small step for CARA, and a gigantic step for an orphan child in India”.
Ruby
1 comment:
Yes !!!. Finally something is moving.
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