Over 700 children died in specialised adoption agencies in last 3 years: WCD Ministry

Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, WCD Minister Smriti Irani gave data according to which the highest number of deaths of children have been reported from Uttar Pradesh. These deaths occurred across 19 specialised adoption agencies in the state.

As many as 776 children, including 124 in Uttar Pradesh, have died at specialised adoption agencies in the last three years, the Women and Child Development (WCD)Ministry said Friday.

Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, WCD Minister Smriti Irani gave data according to which the highest number of deaths of children have been reported from Uttar Pradesh. These deaths occurred across 19 specialised adoption agencies in the state.

Children legally free for adoption are provided residential care at specialised adoption agency(SAA), which are run by both state governments and NGOs.

"As per the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guideline System (CARINGS), 776 children have reported to have died in SAAs during the period from 2016-2017 to 2019-2020 (up to July 8, 2019)," Irani said.

She said so far, a total number of 10 complaints against SAAs, which were found to be not complying with the Adoption Regulations, have been received by the government.