About Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA)
Aparna Kalra
New Delhi
It is part of a dreary, run-down block of offices located at the rear of The Hyatt Hotel in New Delhi. But the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), run by the ministry of women and child development, witnesses daily miracles. CARA is the only organization that oversees adoption of Indian children by those who live abroad. It also oversees domestic adoptions (along with other agencies located in the states), and is in touch with recognized placement agencies and a number of child centres or shishu grihas where children who are abandoned or given up for adoption are housed. Though no data is available, only an estimated 5,000 children are on CARAs rolls at any given point of time for adoption. This is because the agency is in touch with only 13 states in India. J.K. Mittal, the new chairperson of the agency, plans to increase CARAs reach to all states and start a countrywide database on adoptions.
The agency said the maximum delays in the adoption process occur when the parents insist on choosing the gender, age and skin tones of children they want to adopt. A lot of parents insist on fair-skinned children and many have problems with a child who is even a year old, saying that he/she would have memories of the time in between , said S.K. Mishra, director of CARA.
Data of inter-country adoption from CARA reveals that parents living abroad show a marked preference for adopting girls. Here are the figures:
2004318 male, 754 female. Total number of children: 1,072
2005282 male, 620 female. Total number of children: 902
2006297 male, 607 female. Total number of children: 904
Domestic adoption figures are not easily available as adoption agencies at state levels are also involved. CARA says it is in the process of collecting and compiling figures from states.
Aparna Kalra