Child Adoption - Tamil Nadu

What is Child Adoption in Tamil Nadu?

Child Adoption - Tamil Nadu is the legal process by which an orphaned, abandoned, destitute, neglected or surrendered child is given a permanent family. In Tamil Nadu the process is run by the Department of Social Defence through the State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA), the District Child Protection Units and Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAAs) recognised in the districts. The national regulator is the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

According to CARA, adoption is the process by which a child who is abandoned or separated from biological parents becomes the legitimate child of the adoptive parents, with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that attach to a biological child. Once the court passes the adoption order, the child inherits from the adoptive parents and the legal relationship with the biological family ends.

Two things follow from that definition, and they are the two things families most often get wrong:

• Adoption is not a benefit scheme. No cash is paid to adoptive parents. This page describes a legal service and a statutory process, not a subsidy.
• Adoption happens only through the CARINGS system. Every legal adoption in India begins with online registration on the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) at cara.wcd.gov.in. A child handed over by a hospital, a nursing home, a relative's contact, a maternity home or any intermediary is not a legal adoption, and the arrangement exposes everyone involved to prosecution under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

Who can adopt a child, and who cannot?

You can register to adopt if:

• You are physically, mentally and emotionally stable, financially capable, and do not have a life-threatening medical condition.
• You are a married couple with at least two years of a stable marital relationship, and both spouses consent to the adoption; or
• You are a single woman, who may adopt a child of any gender; or
• You are a single man, who may adopt a boy.
• You meet the age criteria, which are set as a composite age of the couple. The younger the child sought, the lower the maximum composite age allowed. Younger age groups of children require younger parents.
• There is a minimum age difference of 25 years between the child and each adoptive parent, other than for relative or step-child adoption.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• You are a single man seeking to adopt a girl child. Such an applicant is not eligible and cannot apply for a girl child.
• You are a couple married for less than two years, or where one spouse does not consent.
• You exceed the maximum age for the age group of child you seek. Parents who are too old for an infant may still be eligible for an older child.
• You suffer from a chronic, contagious or life-threatening illness that would prevent you caring for a child, as assessed in the medical certificate and home study.
• You attempt to adopt outside the CARINGS process. A private handover cannot be regularised afterwards as a legal adoption and is an offence.

Prospective adoptive parents already having children are not barred, but the consent and views of older children in the family are taken into account during the home study.

What documents are required?

How to apply to adopt a child in Tamil Nadu

1. Register on the CARINGS portal at cara.wcd.gov.in. Create an account, fill in the prospective adoptive parents' details, and select the age group and the states, including Tamil Nadu: from which you are willing to receive a referral. Registration is free.
2. Upload the required documents within the period allowed after registration. Your seniority in the waiting list is fixed by your registration, so upload promptly and correctly.
3. Complete the home study. A social worker from a Specialised Adoption Agency visits your home, interviews both parents and any other family members, and files a Home Study Report on CARINGS. This is an assessment of the family, not an examination to be feared, and honesty about income, health and family attitudes serves you better than presentation.
4. Wait for a referral. When your seniority comes up, CARINGS shows you the profile, photographs and Child Study Report and Medical Examination Report of up to a set number of children who are legally free for adoption.
5. Reserve and accept a child within the time the system allows. You may meet the child at the Specialised Adoption Agency before deciding. If you do not accept, your seniority moves accordingly.
6. Take the child in pre-adoption foster care after signing the foster care undertaking with the agency, while the court process runs.
7. Obtain the adoption order from the court. The Specialised Adoption Agency files the petition; the court passes the adoption order, after which the agency obtains the amended birth certificate showing the adoptive parents' names.
8. Complete post-adoption follow-up. The agency conducts follow-up visits and files reports on CARINGS for a defined period after placement.

How does a child become available for adoption?

A child cannot be placed in adoption until the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) declares the child legally free for adoption. For an abandoned child that follows an inquiry and a public notice period during which the biological family may come forward. For a surrendered child it follows a reconsideration period during which the surrendering parent may take the child back. Orphaned children require verification that no guardian is available.

This is the true reason for the long wait that adoptive families experience. The number of prospective parents registered on CARINGS is far larger than the number of children declared legally free. The wait is not administrative slowness in Tamil Nadu; it is a shortage of legally adoptable children.

Families willing to consider an older child, a sibling group, or a child with special needs move much faster, and the CARINGS system carries a separate route for such placements.

How to check the status of your adoption application

1. Log in to CARINGS at cara.wcd.gov.in. Your dashboard shows your seniority number, the status of your Home Study Report and any referral pending action.
2. Contact the Specialised Adoption Agency conducting your home study for questions about the report and the local process.
3. Contact the State Adoption Resource Agency under the Department of Social Defence, Government of Tamil Nadu, for state-level questions, or the District Child Protection Unit in your district.

Common mistakes that delay or defeat an adoption

• Registering and then not uploading documents in time, which can cause the registration to lapse and the seniority to be lost.
• Registering with more than one identity or in more than one name, which is detected by the system and leads to cancellation.
• Choosing an unrealistically narrow preference. A specific gender, a very young infant, a single state — and then waiting years for a referral that matches.
• Understating income or health issues in the home study, which surfaces later and undermines the file.
• Going through an intermediary who promises a child quickly. This is the single most damaging mistake a family can make: it is illegal, the child's status is never regularised, and both the family and the intermediary face prosecution.
• Declining referrals repeatedly, which affects seniority.

Reporting an abandoned child or an illegal adoption

Anyone who finds an abandoned child, or learns of a child being bought, sold or privately handed over, should act at once:

• CHILDLINE 1098, free, round the clock, across India.
• District Child Protection Unit of the district.
• Child Welfare Committee, which is the statutory authority for a child in need of care and protection.
• Local police station, in a case involving trafficking or sale of a child.

Handing a newborn to a hospital attendant, a maternity home or a private individual is not a lawful surrender. A parent who cannot keep a child should approach the Specialised Adoption Agency or the Child Welfare Committee, where surrender is recorded lawfully and the child is protected.

Help and grievance route

• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA); cara.wcd.gov.in, the national regulator and the CARINGS portal.
• State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA), Department of Social Defence, Government of Tamil Nadu, the state nodal body.
• District Child Protection Unit and Child Welfare Committee of your district.
• CHILDLINE 1098 for any child in distress.

Registration on CARINGS is free. Apart from the notified child care corpus paid to the Specialised Adoption Agency and normal court and documentation costs, no payment is lawful, and no agency, hospital or individual may charge a family for a child.