Hyderabad: More than 200 applications for adoption are pending at the Yusufguda Shishu Vihar for over two years now. Of the total 211 children currently housed at the government home, only 37 have been declared as ‘fit for adoption’ and 95 have been categorised as children with special needs as they are either HIV positive or differently abled, among others. Because of the delayed process of adoption, illegal methods have been adopted in many cases.
“Adoption can only be processed through the Adoption Coordinating Agency (ACA) at the state level and the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), the nodal body of the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare Department and only children below the age of seven are in this section,” an official said.
As per the officials at the Women and Child Welfare Department, the minimum waiting period for a boy in the 0-5 year age group is a minimum of six to seven years.
For a girl child it is relatively less and varies with the age group. A girl below one year of age and between one to three years, the waiting period is two years, whereas for girls three to five years and above, it is just six to eight months, indicating that boys are in great demand.
Commissioner of the Women and Child Welfare Department Chiranjeevi Chowdary said, “There is a lot of demand and children are less. People have to wait for their turn. The waiting list now is one and a half years.”
Since 2008, a total of 32 applications were received from parents residing abroad, of which, surprisingly nine applications were received for children with special needs.
The situation is also same at the district level Shishu Grihas. “Even the Shishu Grihas at each district have more or less a hundred applications shelved off,” said Mamatha Raghuveer, member, State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
