When adopting a baby, going through the proper legal procedure is the right thing to do. It is not uncommon to find news reports of couples who have been tricked into private contracts with the child's parents or hospitals, and have lost a lot of money and the baby too!

So before adopting a baby, find out all that you can about the prevailing laws in India and do not deviate from the legal procedures. Here's a brief overview of the legal angle to adoption.

Adoption laws in India
In India, the adoption procedure is governed the following legislations that are based on the religion of the adopter:

The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA), 1956
HAMA is the only existing legislation that provides guidelines for adoption to Hindus in India. The category of Hindus includes any person who is a Hindu by religion or any of its forms, including Buddhists, Jains, Brahmo, Sikh, Prarthna or Arya Samaj.

According to this Act, the couple can only adopt children belonging to the sex opposite of the child they already have. For instance, a couple having a boy can only adopt a girl and vice-versa. The adopted child is legally considered a natural-born offspring of the couple and has all the rights including the right to inheritance. The city civil courts will handle the adoption case.

The Guardianship and Wards Act, 1890
Non-Hindus in India, such as Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Jews are governed by this law. Unfortunately, this law does not recognize full adoption, as it only confers a guardian-ward relationship to the adopter and the adoptee. The petition of the guardianship has to be accompanied by an investment plan and investment of certain amount of money for the ward's security. The high court or family court handles the case. This legal guardian-ward relationship exists until the child completes 21 years of age.

Foreigners, who seek to adopt an Indian Child, have to do so under this Act to assume legal Guardianship of the child. They also have to give assurance to the court, that they would legally adopt the child as per the laws of their country, within two years after the arrival of the child in their country.

Monitoring Adoption in India
According to the government of India, all matters regarding adoption come under the Ministry of Women & Child Development, which set up the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) in 1990, with its headquarters at New Delhi, to deal with all matters concerning adoption in India.

Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA)
The Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) is an Autonomous Body under the Ministry of Women & Child Development. Its goal is to find a family for every orphaned, abandoned or surrendered child in the country. In-country Adoption of Indian children is governed by the In-country Guidelines 2004, while the Inter-country Adoption procedure is governed by a set of Guidelines last issued on 14th February 2006.

While CARA is the nodal body set up at the governmental level, the actual functioning of individual adoption agencies is monitored by Voluntary Coordinating Agencies(VCA) like the Coordinating Voluntary Adoption Resource Agency (CVARA) in Delhi, and other local bodies in other states.

The local VCA in Delhi, CVARA was formed in 1984, on the recommendations of the Supreme Court. The ten adoption agencies that come under its umbrella are:

• SOS Children's Villages of India
• Holy Cross Social Service Centre
• Missionaries of Charity
• Church of North India
• Welfare Home for Children
• Delhi Council for Child Welfare
• Matri Chhaya
• Children of the World
• Right to Life Society
• Asharan orphanage

The recognized placement agencies in each State are identified by the VCAs in the States and the CVARA in Delhi. The state governments can licence agencies only to do in-country adoption, while the "Voluntary Coordinating Agencies" in each State can handle inter-country adoption.

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