Adoption diaries

The What’s, Why’s and How’s of adoption

Professional Disclaimer: The information given below is based on my experience. I am in no way responsible for the accuracy of the information. Do understand that the process keeps changing from time to time. You should get in touch with the CARA helpline for accurate information

Personal Disclaimer: This post and the ones to follow, are NOT meant to promote adoption and definitely NOT meant for gloating! These hopefully will help throw more light on the process once the decision has been taken by the parents.

Since I am fresh out of the process of adoption in India, I have been asked a lot of questions about the process. I have tried to give as much information as possible. Do leave comments if you have specific questions and I will address them.

If you have decided to be a parent through adoption, first off- Congratulations!! Now, start off with going through the official website of CARA, the Central Adoption Resource Authority (And that would be www.cara.nic.in). This is the ONLY LEGAL way to adopt in India. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT adopt through other means as it amounts to child trafficking. A little patience and process can avoid lots of unpleasant complications in the future.

What you need to do

                Register at the CARA website. Do this as soon as you decide upon adoption as the waitlist is built based on the date of registration. This step includes furnishing your information, uploading supporting documents and choosing the local Specialised Adoption agency aka SAA who will be in charge of your home visit

                Ensure that you upload all the required documents correctly at the first time as this can save you a lot of rework and waiting

You also get to give preference of top three of states where you like to be matched to a baby. You can also state ‘All over India’ as your choice.

What the SAA will do

                The SAA will first accept your request and schedule a home visit (In my case, the home visit happened on the 90^th day of registration). On the appointed day and time, the Social Worker visits the entire family and interviews and counsels you on adoption. It is essential to have your spouse. In case you already have a child, it is imperative that the child is also present and, God willing, displaying their best manners J

After the home visit, providing the SAA finds your family acceptable, a Home Study Report (HSR) is prepared and uploaded against your profile in the CARA website

What CARA does

CARA now places you on the waitlist and trust me from this day on, you cannot help refreshing the page every day to see how you have moved up! You need to play out this waiting game unless you want to be matched with a kid in the Immediate Placement list (from where I found my lo)

CARA provides the medial report of the baby and the statement from the social worker responsible for the baby. Between these two reports, you get almost all the information you need to decide. These reports tell you how and when the baby came into their care, any hospitalisation thereafter, the list of immunisation done, the physical and mental development of the baby. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a detailed evaluation of the baby is performed and CARA strives to give as much information as possible.

What you need to do

If you have decided on the baby, go ahead and Reserve the Child. By doing this you agree to report to the home where the baby is and get matched there.

What the adoption agency will do

The agency with which the baby is housed, will match you on your visit. Ensure that you call the agency and fix an appointment for matching.

Once matched, you can meet the baby. And trust me, the first sight is so special!!

You can sign the foster care papers and bring the baby home. From this time the agency will help you with all the legal formalities until you get the birth certificate

Note: For the latest rules and regulations, the time period allotted for each step etc., check www.cara.nic.in

Also, there are separate posts for each step,  where I will tell you what we did, how long we stayed, how we were prepared and so on.