Often,
families that are intending to adopt a child are asked to produce an
infertility certificate issued by a medical doctor to facilitate home study
report. I do not know if there’s a
certificate of that sort can be issued by the medical community, but if they do,
nothing more embarrassing and violation of dignity of a person than that. So, what do the families need to do then?
In this post, I’ll try to cover:
- · What does the law speak about adoptions?
- · What does the CARA guidelines on adoption – 2011 (latest) speak about it?
- · Future course of action
Law
that governs secular adoptions in India is called “Juvenile & Justice Act”
and the section that covers adoptions (Section 41(6)) says the following:
The
court may allow a child to be given in adoption –
(a) To a
person irrespective of marital status or;
(b) To parents
to adopt a child of same sex irrespective of the number of living biological
sons or daughters; or
(c)
To childless couples
Para
(20) of the latest CARA guidelines that govern adoptions in India (here is the link to the adoption guidelines) refers to schedule V for the list of documents to be
submitted to the adoption agency that would facilitate the ‘Home Study Report’
(HSR). Schedule V list the documents and
sub-para (m) states this: IT IS
CLARIFIED THAT INFERTILITY CERTIFICATE IS NOT REQUIRED FROM THE PROSPECTIVE ADOPTIVE
PARENTS WISHING TO ADOPT A CHILD
It is
evident from the law and the guidelines stated above that there’s no need for
anyone to produce any documentation to say that one cannot bear a child to
proceed with adoption.
But
what if the adoption agencies insist?
What is the recourse? They do so
either due to ignorance or arrogance. To
give them the benefit of the doubt, they ought to be informed about the
provisions under the law but if they continue with the insistence, then the
para 59(2)(1) of the guidelines ought to be utilized where adoption agency can
have their license revoked.
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