Guess, how many children are there in India to adopt?

Often prospective adoptive parents (PAP's) wait for years to adopt a child in/ from India.  They invariably wonder about the reasons for this inordinate delay when there are hundreds and thousands of children languish in children's homes.  The answer lies in the definition of 'free for adoption' in Juvenile and Justice Act ( JJ Act).  This video below breaks down the definition to help you make an informed decision.  Happy adoption journey...

Best Indian state to adopt a child...

A decision to adopt a child in/ from India can be stressful because numerous unknown variables.  There is no authentic material to read.  Well... wait no more.  Here is the information given for the first time by the Government of India in a report format (Jena Report) and we have broken it down in to small nuggets in a video format.  Hope you find this information useful to make an informed decisions on your adoption journey.  Happy adoption journey...

Adoption workshop in February 1st, 2014

Department of reproductive medicine of CMC, Vellore and ‘The Hope House’ are jointly hosting an ‘Adoption Workshop’ to be held on February 1^st, 2014.  We have created a flyer with more details and if you live in and around the cities of Vellore, Chennai and Bangalore, this would be a very good workshop to attend.  Best is, it is offered at no cost.

Global orphan (a story of human rights violation)

Read this story of an Indian girl who was adopted when she was only three months old by an American family but now after almost 30 years later she is about to be deported to India.  Who is responsible for this injustice?  

Download adoption application from itunes

We live in a world of applications. There are millions of applications for every need that you can think, some for few dollars and others are absolutely for free. Last thing you had ever thought that there would an application is for 'Adoption'. Yes there is one.

Adoptive families magazine has come up with an application called "Adoption Guide" which seem to encompass lots of different articles from their old magazines yet very useful.

Application is only 4.9 MB large and it is available absolutely for free. Go to itunes (yes, you need to have itunes on your computer) and search for "Adoption Guide" and download it to iphone or ipad. I couldn't download as my account would only allows me to download applications that are available for Indian itunes only. That's a tragedy.

Inter-Country adoption to resume

Circular reference number 1-2/2010, Date: 01.07.2011 indicated that CARA was not accepting any more new dossiers for inter-country adoptions. But if the grapevine is to be believed, it is expected to change.

It is learnt from a very liable source that accepting new dossiers for inter-country adoptions will resume from October, 2011.

Heard it through the grapevine about this adoption rule change….

According to the JJ Act, once the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) declares the child free for adoption, agency can place the child in pre-adoption foster care and then initiates the adoption legalization process in the court. I heard from a source recently that this rule has been changed.

Pre-Adoption foster care refers to placing a child in the home of a prospective adoptive parents home while the finalization process is underway. This is done in the best interest of the child to reduce the stay of the child in the adoption agency as the finalization of adoption in the court could take several months. But unfortunately there are some agencies delaying the filing of papers and putting the child’s adoption status in limbo.

As per my understanding, changed rule says that the agency can only place a child in pre-adoption foster care after the papers are filed (not finalized) for legalization in the court.

Like any rule, I have no doubt in my mind that this is only been done in the best interest of the child but it does seem to have one downside and that is lengthening of stay of the child in the adoption agency. This also places higher burden on the agencies to do everything correctly by the book before they file papers in the court because failing to do so can only increase their costs by keeping the child for longer duration of time. This rule change applies to the state of Tamilnadu only.

Update on Russian adoptions to the US - II

Here is an another email I just received from National Council For Adoption (NCFA) confirming that the earlier released statement is false. I am cutting and pasting the statement I had received.

UPDATED 11:36am

NCFA has confirmed with officials from the U.S. Department of State that the rumor of a suspension of intercountry adoptions from Russia to the U.S. is currently false. Intercountry adoptions are still being processed by the Russian Ministry of Education until further notice.

We will announce further details as they become available.

Update on Russian adoptions to the US

Received a media update of 'National Council for Adoption' (NCFA) which is dated as April 15th (today) and meant for immediate release. Here is the content of the update. I am simply cutting and pasting it as I had received it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 15, 2010

Contact: Matthew Davis
mdavis@adoptioncouncil.org
(703) 299-6633 office
(703) 283-8957 mobile

MEDIA UPDATE: NCFA Issues Statement Regarding Rumored Suspension of Russian Adoptions to the U.S.

Alexandria, VA – During a press conference today, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Andrei Nesterenko announced a suspension of adoptions to the United States until a bilateral agreement on intercountry adoption is formalized with the United States. The National Council For Adoption (NCFA) has spoken with Russian officials in the Ministry of Education (the Russian department with oversight of intercountry adoption) and with those in the Russian Embassy and neither department has been able to confirm the announcement or issue a public statement regarding when and if it will go into effect.

NCFA will announce further details as they become available.

Sending the Right Message

When the media spotlights a story when one or a few times adoption goes wrong it tends to send out the wrong message to many of those who have not adopted because all they are seeing is the few times that it has turned out bad. It is so important to remember all the many thousands of times it has turned out wonderful and to not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I would encourage anyone who has adopted to send in their stories to this blog, their local papers, anywhere public where we can send encouraging messages to those who may question whether adoption is normally a great thing. Here is an article where one family did just that.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/234343/page/1

You can also go here...

http://www.jcics.org/Russia.htm

...to learn of many more valuable ways to encourage others to know the joys of adoption and
spread the word so many children will continue to get to loving homes they so deserve.

Inter-Country adoptions are suspended from Preet Mandir

Here is a news article appeared in 'Indian Express' saying that the inter-country adoptions are suspended from pune based adoption agency 'Preet Mandir'

[Click Here] to read the story

Heartbreaking story of repatriation from US to Russia

I am dead against repatriation of adoptive children to the countries that they have been adopted from. Reason is that when the child is adopted, parents assume parental rights (read: 'Biological'). Biological parents do not have a choice to abandon or repatriate, so why then such a cruel choice exists for adoptive parents?

Here is a heartbreaking story published in today's New York Times where an adoptive child was repatriated from the United States of America to Russia. [Click Here to read it]

Related Story: Grandmother: Adopted boy sent back to Russia was violent (on CNN)

National Survey of AP

I read an article today, put out by the National Council for Adoption. It is based on a new survey taken by adoptive parents (AP). In this article they tell how adopted children fare....


and indicate how beneficial adoption is to parents and child/ren. Domestic and International adoption are compared with foster care and shows some pretty interesting results. Hope you enjoy the article. Here is the link:
https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/images/stories/documents/AdoptionAdvocate22.pdf

Adoption Tax Credit Extended!!!

Just read on another site that the adoption tax credit is now legally extended through 2011, there is even an increase in the amount!

It passed through with the new health care bill, so no matter what side you were on of it passing, this is a good reason to be excited. I'm hoping many more children will find their way home because of this. You can read a little bit more about it at this link if you like. http://abbafund.wordpress.com/

Reunion after 27 years

Here is a story that warms your heart where an adoptee met her biological mother after 27 years. They don't share a common language nor a geography anymore but everything else they do. That's all it matters.

Don't miss reading the last sentence of this story.

Now, it is the government's turn after the courts to fix the problems in adoption

You've heard all kinds of solutions being floated to fix different kinds of problems in inter-country adoptions including 'Repatriation'. But one striking fact is that they are all being floated by the courts. As far as I understand it, courts can recommend, suggest and demand answers but not make rules.

But now it appears that the Indian government is stepping in to take control of the situation to fix the problems. This is a step in the right direction.

If you like to read the paper clipping about it click here

Stories of adoption of Haitian children after the earthquake

This video clip has nothing to do about India adoptions but to me any adoption is heart warming. After the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti, unprecedented arrangements were made (by hastening the process) by several governments to help the waiting children to get adopted.

Click here to view the CNN video clip showing how these children came to the US to get adopted.

Adoption Their Only Chance?

Here is another story of a set of surrogate twins. Will they be stateless or adopted? Read on...

follow this link:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Adoption-only-way-out-for-surrogate-twins-Germany/articleshow/5474081.cms

Heart warming story to read

On December 5th, 2006 I asked an adoptive mother with biological children if her grown adoptive child would ever adopt a child? She gently rebuked my question and said "it is an unfair question because my daughter has no biological connection of any kind in this world and she deserves one".

I understood the gravity of that comment and never asked that question again to anyone but always looked around for people who were adopted once and themselves want to adopt now. Don't ask me why because I can't even describe it but I always looked for that instinct in adoptees.

Read this cute story of a young lady who want to adopt because she was adopted.

Bollywood single mom adopts a second child

Not many celebrities are out there in India to look up to as role models in terms of adoption except for one. But she is no ordinary celebrity. She is a well recognized bollywood actress but single, adoptive mother not just once but twice, and she has adopted both girls.

I heard of a name 'Sushmitha Sen' in 1994 when she won the 'Miss Universe'. Since then she has become very successful in bollywood by acting along very big names in the industry. But she defied the conventional wisdom to live a life that's only dictated by her and her alone. Here the point that amazes about her is this: In India value for 'Female', 'Unmarried', 'Adoption' and 'Girl Child' is not very high but here she has defied all those precise things to come out as a winner.

I don't think she's ever married but became a mom 10 years ago for the first time through adoption. Now she has done it again. She is a role model to many in India to suggest that way to the parenthood not necessarily have to be through marriage alone.

First adoption was done under Hindu Adoption & Maintenance Act (HAMA) and the second adoption is completed under the Juvenile and Justice Act (JJ Act). This is a huge marketing boost to the JJ Act. Sushmita Sen is India's Angelina Jolie for adoptions.

You can read the newspaper article here