Make NOC must for couples from abroad to adopt from India: Cara

NEW DELHI: Central Adoption Resource Authority (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Central-Adoption-ResourceAuthority) (CARA (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/CARA)) — India’s only designated body for child adoption — has

urged the Delhi high court to make a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the agency mandatory for any inter-country adoption.

Recently, a division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao agreed to examine the concerns raised by

CARA.

In its plea, CARA has challenged a 2016 order by a single judge for setting a wrong precedent by holding that a NOC by CARA was not needed in inter-country adoptions as long as other requirements were met.

CARA’s advocate Gaurang Kanth argued that in all cases of inter-country adoptions, the procedure laid down under the

Hague Convention is mandatory since India is a signatory. The Convention does not distinguish between the types of intercountry adoptions, that is, if the adoption is a direct adoption or if the child to be adopted is a surrendered, orphan or abandoned child.

Since the 2016 order, CARA pointed out, it has been facing difficulty in convincing parents of the need for its NOC, without which the host foreign country may not even recognise the inter-country adoption as legally valid.

“It is the responsibility of CARA to ensure that the child’s fundamental rights are being protected in the Receiving State in order to ensure the best interest of the child, before the child is allowed to leave the territory” the plea stated.