Can anyone adopt a newborn child?

No, a newborn child cannot be adopted. Adoption of every child requires them to be declared legally free for adoption through the Child Welfare Committee under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act,2015. The process usually takes at least two months to complete. Therefore, no newborn child can be placed in adoption prior to completion of the process.

Is Ngo/ Hospital providing an adoption facility?

No, NGO could not provide any adoption facility as it is illegal. 

No, the adoption directly from the hospital is an illegal adoption and not permitted under law. There are penal provisions of imprisonment and fine specified under Section 80 of the Juvenile Justice Act 2015. 

All the adoption procedures need to be followed by either of the two methods:

Online Mode-

Offline Mode-

a.     Online Mode:

The person/ couple who wants to adopt a child, then they need to contact the District child welfare Committee. So that they can register online. The procedure proceeds on a sonority basis. No one can directly approach any Ngo or child adoption agency as it is an illegal procedure. 

b.     Offline Mode:

If a couple/ person is willing to make an adoption of a particular child then they can directly approach their Tehsil/ District & make a registered adoption.

As the adoption of  children and registration of parents are done on centralized CARING software managed by CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority, a nodal agency to monitor and regulate in-country and intra-country adoption and is a part of the Ministry of women and child care.

If a baby found on road-side can you adopt it?

No, you cannot adopt the child directly. 

If you find any abandoned child in the need of care and protection, you can contact any of the following 

(a)  CHILDLINE (Toll Free Number-1098) 

(b)  Local Police 

(c)  Any Specialized Adoption Agency (SAA) 

(d)  Child Welfare Committee (CWC) 

(e)  District Child Protection Unit (DCPU). Note: Failure to do so may attract penal provisions, of 6 months imprisonment or a fine of Rs 10,000 or both as per Sections 32, 33, 34 of JJ (C&PC) Act, 2015.

Who can be adopted?

A child can be adopted if s/he is:
An orphan, abandoned or surrendered (OAS) child who has been declared legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC)
(As per the provisions of the JJ (C&PC) Act 2015 and the corresponding rules)

A child of a relative (a relative means the child’s paternal uncle or aunt, a maternal uncle or aunt or paternal and maternal grandparents)
A child or children of a spouse from earlier marriage surrendered by the biological parent(s) for adoption by the step-parent.
(Section 38 and 56 of the JJ (C&PC) Act, 2015 and Regulation 4 of Adoption Regulations)

Who can adopt the child?

General
Prospective adoptive parents (PAP): – who are physically, mentally, and emotionally stable, financially capable and who do not have any life-threatening medical conditions are eligible to adopt.
The minimum age difference between the child and PAP/s shall not be less than twenty-five years.
Married:
Married couples with at least 2 years of stable marital relationship Both spouses must consent for adoption in case of a married couple The composite age of the married couple does not exceed 110 years
Single:
Single persons with or without biological or adoptive children can adopt provided they satisfy the following:
(a) A single female can adopt a child of any gender
(b) A single male is not eligible to adopt a girl child
(c) Age of a single parent does not exceed 55 years.
(d) Must have less than four children unless they are adopting a child with special needs, a hard- to-place child, a relative’s child, or a stepchild.
The age of the child that could be placed with PAPs differs based on the age of the PAPs on the date of registration as given in the following table:

Note: Section 57 of the JJ Act(C&PC) Act, 2015 and Regulation 5 of Adoption Regulations, 2017