UT social welfare dept flooded with adoption queries

THE UT social welfare department has been flooded with queries regarding adoption of the newborn baby of the 10-year-old rape victim. Though parents willing to adopt the child have to apply at the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), the UT social welfare department has come to know that 136 people from the region here are on the waiting list.

An official of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) said the 60-day reconsideration period which is given to the family is already over and the child is now legally free for adoption. The reconsideration period is the time given to the parents to rethink and come back to take the child. If they do not, then after a period of two months, the child is declared legally free for adoption.

Nishu Singhal, director of the social welfare department, said they could not disclose any such details and everything was being operated through the national portal. Sources said that among those willing to adopt the child, approximately half-a-dozen are NRIs and some gazetted officers. The rape victim delivered a girl in August this year.

CWC members have been receiving calls from people, who do not know that the adoption process is now regulated through CARA. “People don’t know that adoption isn’t easy now. So, they are being advised to apply through CARA. We really don’t know how much time the adoption process would take, may be even six months,” said a senior CWC official.

A Government of India team would be carrying out door-to-door verification of the families that have applied and would even see the economical status of the applicants. Ever since the baby was born, she has been at Ashiana, a children’s home at Sector 15. Ashiana is home to over 100 children, up to 18 years of age, who had either been abandoned or orphans or are victims of any crime. At present, there are 105 children at Ashiana.

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