Government to ease adoption norms: Maneka Gandhi

New Delhi: The government will make the norms for adopting children easier, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said Wednesday.

The minister also said that the government is planning to start foster care system in India so that families can take care of children without adopting them.

"The number of children adopted was actually going down in the past few years. We are making changes in the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to make the process simpler," the minister said.

"We are also looking to start foster care programme. It is there in many countries, but not in India. We must try it out," she said.

Foster care programmes allow families to take care of children without adopting them. Families also get monetary assistance for taking care of the child.