FFIA's start in Bombay 1980
History
FFIA's start in Bombay 1980
The business started when a Mr. E. Raman Rao made contact in 1979. It was with the then KFA, the Association of Adoptive Children with children adopted from Thailand, where Britt-Marie Nygren (formerly Hembert) was a member. Britt-Marie was tasked with investigating whether it was a serious contact and, if so, how it would be organised.
One man who helped Rao make contact and who then became involved in the FFIA was Christer Fält. He was then the contact person for many years and supported the prospective adoptive parents. Rao was in Sweden selling Bibles on behalf of the Adventist movement to which he belonged. He received inquiries from Swedes about adoption and decided to help them. He contacted the Juvenile Court and established good relations with them. With that, they began the procedure of placing children for adoption after the "on remand" investigation instead of sentencing the child "court committed" to an orphanage as before. The problem with such a judgment was that in order for such a child to be placed for adoption, the judgment had to be set aside with a "release order". This was a matter that included the Ministry of Social Affairs and could take a very long time,.
Eventually a procedure was established in Bombay which followed our procedure.
Rao and his wife Mrudula became representatives of the FFIA in India and as such they tried to make more new contacts. They succeeded best in the state of Gujarat but also in Andhra Pradesh.
Most of the children we received from the Juvenile Court in Bombay were placed in a nursing home during the 80s. Many were very small and badly behaved and needed proper care. The infant mortality rate at this time in the orphanages was 80% for children under the age of 1. Some children were thus institutionalized in an orphanage but never physically stayed there. Some orphanages were annoyed that they had children enrolled whom they never even saw.
Rao also established good contact with Asha Sadan and FFIA got quite a few children from them as well. Many of the JC children were also placed there. Some were also placed at Shree Manav Seva Sangh and some older children over 2 years old came to Additional Remand Home, now New Remand Home.
Organizational structure
There are, as in most countries, both social and legal authorities involved in the adoption process. The social authority is responsible for abandoned children and the legal authority for the court process.
The Ministry of Social Affairs has appointed a central authority, CARA, the Central Adoption Resource Agency, which, among other things, has the task of licensing and monitoring organizations and their work with international adoptions. CARA also issues guidelines that govern how the work is conducted. There are about 70 licensed Indian organizations and 250 foreign ones. Of the foreign organizations, 100 are from Austria, which is due to a tricky system. This does not mean that children are adopted for all of these. So it is more relevant to say that around 150 foreign organizations are operating in India. 55 organizations are from the USA.
Over the years, the Indian central authority has issued new Guidelines that have changed various parts of the procedure. The foreign organizations usually had direct contact with the Indian organizations until around 2012, and all cooperation took place between the organizations. According to the latest rules (2012), the application must be made to CARA, which then forwards the application to a contact and instructs them to place a child.
CARA guidelines stipulate many things. One such is that the Indian organizations have as a license condition to mediate at least 50% of their adoptions within the country. This has meant that domestic adoptions have increased significantly in recent years. Another rule is that costs for the implementation of the adoption have been determined by CARA. These are very low. Donations may be given, but only after the adoption has been completed.
The licenses in India are time limited. Nowadays, usually 5 years, but shorter periods also occur. Especially the Indian organizations spend a lot of effort on renewal of licenses and reports to CARA.
In adoption cases, CARA has an important role, that is to give "no objection certificate" in each individual case.
The highest judicial body in India is the Supreme Court. This court issued a "Judgment" in 1984 which is essentially the basis of the CARA guidelines of today. Although the procedure has become more complicated over the years, there are at least fewer ambiguities and less often big surprises during the process.
In some states, the High Court makes adoption decisions, for example in Mumbai. That's how it's always been there. But also district courts in the state (e.g. Poona) make adoption decisions in local cases. In most places, however, it is district courts that decide adoption cases and in some places there may be specially established family courts (Madurai, for example).
Juvenile Court corresponds to our child welfare board in a way. They always get involved when it comes to children who have been found abandoned or children who are taken into care for some reason. They are also responsible for juvenile delinquency, street children, etc. The Juvenile Court has a lot of contact with the orphanages in such a way that children are often placed there, partly pending investigation and partly permanently. In Mumbai, the Juvenile Court now has a new name, the Juvenile Welfare Board. The authority is side by side with Asha Sadan .
Institutions and orphanages
All orphanages must be registered with the local social authorities. A lot of orphanages are private, which means that they are financed for the most part or completely without government funds .
There are over 600 government institutions in India for children 0-18 years. FFIA is not aware of any of these being licensed for international adoptions. Pressure has been put on CARA to ensure that these children also have access to adoption opportunities (human rights). CARA claims to be working in that direction.
There are estimated to be around 500 private institutions in India. Many in the southern parts are Christians, missionaries and nuns have started and run these.
One of the basic conditions from CARA to get a license is that the organization that runs the orphanage must also have other social projects than just the orphanage operation. This is to avoid regular adoption orphanages being run. That was certainly the case with many of the organizations that got a license in the beginning, but those that had no other business got it. As for the Christian organizations and churches that, among other things, ran orphanages, not many applied for a license. Therefore, we have witnessed a lot of children being transferred from such orphanages to licensed organizations for the adoption process (Faith Home, Mercy Home, Madonna Girl's Town e.g. whose children were transferred to GKF, Madurai or SOCSEAD, Trichy). A basic idea in India is thus that orphanages should not depend on foreign adoptions for their livelihood.
A private orphanage can receive government support in return for committing to take in the "state's" children. In most cases, children are "on remand", ie under investigation by the Juvenile Court. Asha Sadan is one such. It means a lot of extra administrative accounting hassle, which is why many orphanages choose to refrain from this.
The procedure of children abandoned by parent
These children usually come to the orphanage together with a biological parent, alternatively the child is born in the orphanage. For example, Asha Sadan is, in addition to an orphanage, also a rescue home for unmarried mothers who cannot live at home. In Calcutta, the children often come from maternity clinics, where orphanage staff are called upon to go and pick up the child and sometimes meet the biological mother and obtain transfer documents for the child. In Poona and Madurai, the connection is directly to a hospital, but children also get there by other routes.
After a deed of abandonment and placement in an institution, the orphanage tries to find domestic adoptive parents. Information about the child is also sent to the VCA Voluntary Coordinating Agency, which must have at least 3 months to try to find domestic parents for the child. Only when this is not successful does the child receive a VCA clearance certificate and is free for adoption abroad. In practice, today parents are found within the country for all perfectly healthy young children.
A foreign family is appointed and the child's documents are sent, signed by the adoptive parents and sent back to the orphanage. After that, the No Objection Certificate must be obtained from CARA. When this is complete, the application is made to the court, the lawyer prepares and submits it. The court sends the application for referral to the Indian Council for Social (or Child) Welfare, which has the task of checking on behalf of the court that all parts have been handled according to the rules. Until 2012, the court made decisions under the Guardians and Wards Act of 1890, which is a guardianship order with a view to adoption in the new country. After 2012, India follows the Hague Convention and makes full adoption decisions that also apply in Sweden,
Procedure for lost children
The procedure is not very different, but as step 1, the child usually comes to the Juvenile Court via the police. It can also be about children who are found outside an orphanage, for example, but even then the police must be notified. For these children there is no background information. The Juvenile Court's social worker conducts an investigation and tries to find the child's parents. Advertising takes place in the press and the investigation takes different time depending on, among other things, the age of the child. In the meantime, the child is either placed in one of the state orphanages or one of the private ones that have such a contract. When the investigation is complete, the child can be declared abandoned and free for adoption. The same procedure as for other children is then followed.
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