Over eight years, 75% children adopted in Telangana are girls
HYDERABAD: In a heartening trend, Telangana is witnessing a growing demand for girl children among couples aspiring to become parents. According to official data, the state saw 1,430 children being adopted between 2014 and 2022. Of these, 1,069 were girls and 361 were boys.
Until a few years ago, the statistics were starkly different. Prospective adoptive parents (PAP) at that time were willing to wait for years - almost close to a decade in some cases - only to take home a baby boy. The little girls weren't so lucky.
"Now, things have certainly changed. In fact, there is such a demand that we are not being able to meet it," said an official of the Telangana Women and Child Welfare Department attributing this overwhelming preference for girls as a "personal choice" that PAPs are making these days.
"Slowly but surely people are becoming more accepting of girl children," said the official, an observation seconded by prospective parents and women activists. "For me, the priority is to get a child who will complete us. I do not care whether it is a girl or a boy," said a parent-to-be who applied for adoption in 2022 and is now waiting for clearance from Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA).
Activists agree that most PAPs are not gender specific any more. "So, since the wait time for adopting a girl is lesser, they are going for that," said activist and founder of Tharuni, Mamatha Raghuveer Achanta. While the waiting period for a boy, even now, is at least three to four years, for girls it's just about a year from the date of applying, Mamatha added.
City leads adoption trend
Hyderabad district saw the highest number of registrations by prospective parents - 1,239 of them between 2014 and 2022 - followed by Vikarabad (415). Bhadadri Kothagudem was at the bottom with only 13 registrations, data accessed by TOI showed. "Not only childless couples, even families with a biological child and single people are applying for adoption. The number of children available for adoption is far less than the number of parents waiting in line," said an official of women and child welfare department. And there is demand from other countries.
Officials are making more efforts to bring more children into adoption pool by streamlining procedures involved in pre-adoption and identifying orphaned and abandoned children living in Child Care Institutions.
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