UNI
AIZAWL, NOVEMBER 2
Childless foreign couples, mostly from European countries, have started eying Mizoram for a solution to their infertility.
Since 2005, a total of 224 children in Mizoram have been adopted, including 207 in-country adoptions and 17 foreign adoptions.
Foreign countries where children from Mizoram have been adopted are America, France, Spain and Germany. The first inter-country adoption in Mizoram took place in 2012 when three couples each from Germany, France and Spain adopted children.
According to Ruatfela Nu, a child rights activist and member of registered adoption agency, Friends of Children, childless foreign couples, mostly from European countries, have started eying Mizoram, the only state in the Northeast India having an international adoption licence.
She said, “Earlier, in-country and international adoption had involved a long process. It took more than a year for foreign families to successfully adopt an Indian baby.”
The Indian government has relaxed its adoption rules to encourage more western couples to reduce the number of orphans living on the streets, and abandoned in squalid and dirty children’s homes throughout the country.
“With this relaxation of rules, we are expecting more western couples to adopt children in orphanages in Mizoram,” Ruatfela Nu said.
There are four recognised adoption agencies in Mizoram which have registered about 300 prospective adoptive parents (PAPs). However, only a little more than 100 kids have been adopted from orphanages as most of the PAPs failed to meet the criteria.
“To adopt a child, a couple has to be financially secure and physically healthy. They should own a house and their combined age should not be higher than 90 years. They should be free of criminal past,” Ruatfela Nu said.
Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), an autonomous body under the ministry of women & child development, government of India, has laid down strict guidelines for adoption of children in India and abroad.
An official in the state social welfare department said that it was due to the laudable performance of the state adoption cell that CARA had given adoption licence to Mizoram, among the Northeast states.
At present, there are about 1200 children in about 30 orphanages and children’s homes in Mizoram. Child activists said there has been an increase of unwanted babies in the Christian-dominated state during the last few years.
Ruatfela Nu, who is also a member of the state Child Welfare Committee (CWC) said that abortion among the unmarried women is prevalent. She also said that many commercial sex workers who were drug addicts or alcoholics were not serious about raising children.
The CWC has taken up 1,100 cases of children in need of protection and care since 2005 and a majority of the cases were for admission in orphanages and children homes. With the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Indian laws on protection of child rights advocating raising of children in normal families, social workers and law enforcement officials want to avoid admission of orphans and abandoned children in orphanages and homes.
“In-country and foreign adoption is an ideal solution to solve the problem of rising orphans in the state,” she said. UNI ZS RD1641 Get your own FREE website, FREE domain & FREE mobile app with Company email.
