CARA: Adopted child has rights equal to a biological child, cannot be denied any benefit under law

NEW DELHI: The Central Adoption Resource Authority has made it clear that as per law it is absolutely clear that any child

once adopted legally has the rights equal to that of a biological child. CARA's observations have come in response to a

circular of the railways shared on micro-blogging site Twitter (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Twitter) in connection

with a case where a Bengaluru based senior railway employee who applied for the UMID smart card

(https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/smart-card) for health facilities was told that only her first adopted child was

eligible for facilities as a dependent. She has a daughter and son and both are adopted.

The mother is now preparing to represent to her seniors for including her son’s name as her dependent. He is her second

adopted child. The officer Veena A Nayak works as a Chief office superintendent in engineering ministerial staff in

Bengaluru division of the South Western Railways. An employee with the railways for 25 years, Nayak adopted her daughter

when the child was six months old and the son was two months old. Now her daughter is 18 and son is 14 years old.

Her case found mention in a tweet shared by voluntary organisation Families of Joy that shared the response of the railway

division she works for. The NGO also shared a circular dated September 9, 2000. In the circular related to health facilities in

the definition of family members it is stated that stepsons, unmarried stepdaughters, married stepdaughters and one

adopted child are covered.