NEW DELHI: Terming human trafficking as "the greatest human tragedy", Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra today said that the menace was on the rise and people involved in it considered human beings as commodity.

Justice Misra, addressing an 'International Conference on Human Trafficking' here, said the younger generation has to be the torchbearers against human trafficking.

"Human trafficking is the greatest human tragedy that has fallen upon us. It has to be avoided and the younger generation has to be the torchbearers against it. Human trafficking is a great menace to the present and the future generation," he said.

He said slavery was the human trafficking of the past and it exists even today in a different manner.

"Slavery is human trafficking of the past which existed and exist in a different way today. The people who are involved in human trafficking, think that human beings are commodities. I would like to say the commoditisation of human beings has become an industry in itself. It's a different kind of syndicate," the CJI said.

Actress Sushmita Sen, who raises two adopted daughters, is happy that people are now more open to the idea of adoption. She says it is high time people get over the thinking that blood and bones create a family.

The "Main Hoon Na" star expressed her views when she became a part of TV show "Vh1 Inside Access", read a statement from the channel.

She said: "I think people need to get out of this zone which is really just a zone... where they believe that blood and bones create a family. That we are truly not marrying an absolute stranger and it has nothing to do with your bloodline and suddenly become your everything that you will even take his last name.

"Do you know 45 per cent of children are no longer in the orphanages anymore? If not in India, then globally people are adopting.

"I cannot tell you how amazing that makes me feel to know that this world, despite all its social media distractions, has a heart as large as that. That's awesome," added the actress, who has two daughters named Renee and Alisah.

Marie was both on January 14, 1978, and was given up for adoption three months later.

Marie was both on January 14, 1978, and was given up for adoption three months later.

KOLKATA: Marie Kristiansen Eftestad, a hairdresser in Norway, has had just one dream — to reunite with her biological mother. Forty years back, Marie was adopted from this city and now she and her wife Monica are on a mission to trace her mother.

Marie’s adoption papers state her birth name as Pinky and have all the details of her biological mother, but the only hitch is that she was unmarried at the time and didn’t want her identity to be disclosed. In order to persuade her mother to have a change of heart, Marie has put up a post on her Facebook page. She hopes if her mother is alive, she or someone close to her will read it and help in their reunion.

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Child rights activist alleges collusion of govt officials and Delhi-based SOS Children’s Villages India, which didn’t

release funds for Pune home over 3 yrs

Almost four years after its affiliation to Delhi-based SOS Children’s Villages India ended amid a row over a sexual assault

case, Balgram SOS Children’s Village in Yerwada has found itself in another controversy — involving the district women and

child development (WCD) over alleged financial irregularities.

Cases of adoption of Indian children by foreign nationals and Non-Resident Indians (NRI) increased by 10 per cent in 2017-18, according to data from the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). A total of 552 children have been adopted in 2017-18 by foreign nationals or NRIs, as compared to 500 in 2016-17.

Most adoptions came from couples from the United States, followed by Italy, Sweden, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. In 2016-17, the trend was similar, according to the New Indian Express. Most foreigners (60 per cent) preferred to adopt “special needs” children who had mental or physical disabilities. Almost 90 per cent of the children adopted by foreigners were aged older than six years.

“It takes anywhere between 8 months and a year to adopt these children. The waiting time is less as fewer couples want to adopt them,” an official said while talking about adoption of children with disabilities, according to the Times of India.

“You can’t blame them (India-based parents). They have very little support system in our country, including medical,” Indian Council for Child Welfare general secretary Girija Kumar Babu said. She added that most couples are from the middle class and may not want the financial constraints associated with having a challenged child.

“This contrast is sharp but we are happy that there has been a quantum jump in adoption by foreigners and NRIs after the 2015 adoption guidelines came into force,” CARA chief executive officer Deepak Kumar said. “Even earlier, foreigners were ready to take special needs children. Now it has become a little easier for them,” said Kumar.

The Supreme Court today directed all High Courts in the country to give details on whether special courts to ensure speedy trial of offences against children have been set up in each district.

The court considered Section 25 and 26 of the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 which provide that there has to be a children's court for speedy trial of offences against them and the cases of child rights' abuses, besides appointment of public prosecutors to deal with them.

"Keeping in view the provisions, it is directed that the Registrar Generals of the High Courts would submit a report as regards Sections 25 and 26 of the Act. After receipt of the report, the issue shall be addressed.

"The Registry of this court is directed to forward the earlier order and the present order to the Registrars General of the High Courts with the stipulation that the reports shall be submitted within two weeks from the date of receipt of the orders," a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said.

The court also made it clear that the pendency of the case before it shall not be construed "as any kind of impediment for establishment of courts and appointment of Special Public Prosecutors if steps in that direction have already been taken."

childcare institutes (CCI) are currently running across India, out of which more than 1,100 are operating in Kerala, according to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

As per NCPCR data, the total number of registered CCIs in India stands at 6,792. Currently, more than 2 lakh children (2,07,291) are living in CCIs, both registered and unregistered.

Maharashtra is the second state which has got the most number of unregistered CCIs - 110 followed by Manipur which has 13 CCIs running without registration.

The other states which have got unregistered CCIs are Delhi (6), Andhra Pradesh (3), Tamil Nadu (9), Arunachal Pradesh (3), Rajasthan (4), and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1).

Assam and Bihar have two unregistered CCIs which are under the process of registration, while 49 unregistered CCIs identified in Delhi are undergoing registration process, according to the data.

Jayme Metzgar By Jayme Metzgar

MARCH 19, 2018

In September 2016, just as the presidential race was entering its final weeks, the State Department quietly proposed new regulations governing international adoption. Adoption advocates sounded the alarm, saying the regulations would severely hamper Americans’ ability to adopt overseas. I wrote about this for The Federalist just days before the November election.

Then, to almost everyone’s surprise, Donald Trump was elected president. On the day of his inauguration, Trump began a regulatory reform effort, announcing a moratorium on all new regulations from executive agencies. Ten days later, he issued an executive order requiring agencies to repeal two regulations for every new one they proposed.

Under this new scrutiny, the State Department soon withdrew its proposed adoption rule. Adoption advocates breathed a sigh of relief.

Representative image

Representative image

CHENNAI: Underweight babies, those with vision problems and an infant with cleft lip and palate are among 28 children with “special needs” waiting to be adopted in Tamil Nadu. If data from the past is anything to go by, chances of them finding a family in India are slim.

Over the last four years, 88 such children were adopted from Tamil Nadu by couples abroad, while there were no adoptions by families within the country, social defence department data shows.

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Adoptive parents in India are usually reluctant to take in children with special needs and those who are above six years of age | Express

NEW DELHI: Like any other child of her age, Pihu (name changed), 8, was lively and naughty. She played and interacted with all other children in the adoption centre where she was kept. Except that she suffers from thalassemia trait, making her mildly anaemic.

Because of this “abnormality,” prospective adoptive parents in India shunned her after seeing her profile. But luck finally smiled on Pihu last year when a couple from Spain took her as their daughter.

Pihu’s story is not a one-off. About 1,000 ‘special needs’ children with adoption agencies are largely ignored by domestic couples looking to adopt a child. Even a minor or easily manageable health condition is enough to make prospective parents squirm. But adoptive parents from abroad have no such qualms.

Data from the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) under the Union Women and Child Development Ministry show that adoption of Indian children by foreigners and NRI parents has seen a remarkable growth.