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`Children without family care be brought into adoption system`

Centre on Tuesday asked the states to take steps to ensure that all children bereft of family care are brought into the adoption system.

New Delhi: Centre on Tuesday asked the states to take steps to ensure that all children bereft of family care are brought into the adoption system. "On the one hand more and more couples in India are now coming forth to adopt children, and on the other hand children legally free for adoption are very few," Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said, highlighing the need for streamlining policies on this issue. Addressing an international meet on adoption here, she admitted that at present prospective parents from both India as well as other foreign countries have to wait for long periods for a child and emphasised that more children should be brought into adoption system for giving them permanent family-based care. "I would request the state governments to ensure that all children who are without family care are brought into adoption system, irrespective of their age or special needs, if any," she said. Recognising the role of the NGOs and social workers on child adoption, Tirath also asked them to ensure that the children who are looked after by them are united either with their biological parents or with "loving adoptive families". "While Government is ready to provide necessary support by way of policies, guidance and financial support, it is the Non-Government sector which necessarily plays a far greater role at the ground level," the Minister said. Noting that they are the first point of contact for the children, the biological parents and the adoptive parents, she said, "What is advised by these organisations goes a long way in influencing decisions of the prospective parents". Tirath also advocated "very high of ethics and moral values" in the process of adoption. "I would like to reiterate that the timeline and adoption placement protocol provided in adoption guidelines and Juvenile Justice Act should be strictly followed," she said. PTI