[Electridel]

My husband and I started looking into adoption from India about four years ago and were told over and over again that because we were non-NRI's that adopting from India was very difficult, and that if we did, the children would be over a year old. We were quite disappointed.

We've started to seriously look at adoption again, and I am reading that some agencies now have a Program A and a Program B, and that under one of the programs, we can get children under a year old (and there's no mention that it only applies to NRI's!)

Does anyone out there know if India has been changing it's policy to make it easier on non-NRI's as well as allow for the adoption of infants < 1yr?

[JJJRP]

I'm an NRI and we are on the waiting listto adopt from India. We are told it has become MORE difficult to adopt healthy infants and to expect a child older than 12mons minimum!

[spaypets]

India will not make a child available for international adoption before age 6 months (and usually they're even older than that). Then there's the NOC certificate, scrutiny hearing, court date -- all of which takes months. I'd say it would be very unusual for a child to come home before 15 months, give or take a month.

You can get more detailed information here: http://www.cara.nic.in/

Our daughter came home in 2003, just about the time they CARA (the adoption authority in India) was becoming very strict about making sure children had been offered to Indian couples in India before they qualified for International adoption. DD was referred at almost 10 months and came home at 18 months. She was a toddler, not a baby, but she was loved and well cared for in her orphanage and is now a happy and very healthy 4 year old.

[foxl]

Mine came home in 2002. We applied for a second child five months later (knowing it would be slow). We also are non-NRIs. After 18 months of receiving referrals for children with intensive medical needs, we gave up and switched to Guatemala for our next child. I do agree with Spaypets, the care our daughter received in India was affectionate and excellent!

My agency also recently announced it is not accepting ANY (even NRI) applicants for its program, at this time.

[myworldisdmb]

We also REALLY REALLY tried to adopt from India but we were told we would not be able to adopt a young child unless the child had pretty severe medical issues. We could have adopted an older healthy child but we really wanted a younger child. This is why we have switched to Vietnam.

[spaypets]

Originally Posted by foxl

My agency also recently announced it is not accepting ANY (even NRI) applicants for its program, at this time.

I do think it matters a great deal what part of India the agency works in. Some states have become very anti-international adoption in wake of some scandals.

I should add that we're not NRI and that things have become much, much slower (It took one woman I know 2 years to bring her daughter home from the same orphanage I adopted from -- some snafu between the orphanage and the court).

[foxl]

Actually they work in several states, with numerous differently-affiliated orphanages ... so, it kind of surprised me!

[Terry22]

Hi!

I am almost finished with my second adoption from India. I am not NRI, and I am a single, older mom. After finalizing my first adoption I found that the agency I had gone through was no longer accepting single women into their India program. Knowing the country criteria for India still would allow me to adopt I searched around until I had found 5 agencies I could go through. That being said, as Spaypets indicated, it depends on the Indian partners an agency here deals with. It likely is true accross the board that if you want a child close to or younger than 1 year old that you're going to be looking at a child with at least moderate special needs. Adoption is becoming more acceptable in India and a lot more Indian families are choosing adoption to build their families. The Indian agency my daughter came from now places 85 per cent of its children within India. Which is wonderful. I will pm you with the agency I went with for my second adoption.

Terry in OR Mama to
Gouri 4 yrs old BSSK
Jai 6 yrs old Asharan

[Karine-N]

Hi everyone,

The new CARA's guidelines are in process of being changed further to the
Amendment To The Indian Citizenship Act Passed ... 29 December, 2005 the article was mentionning as follows :
“ADOPTION BY OVERSEAS INDIAN PARENTS The Ministry has been actively pursuing the concerns of NRIs/PIOs with the Central Adoption Resources Agency (CARA) of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment regarding inter-country adoptions. CARA is
presently revising guidelines on inter-country adoptions and proposing NRI/PIOs to be deemed on parity with resident Indians in all cases concerning adoption. Once the guidelines are revised and finalized, MOIA will arrange to give this wide publicity in India and Overseas.” (http://www.indlawnews.com/20A7DE64F9...315A5E99C0A9E5)

Let's hope the changes will be "operational" soon and as the NRI/PIO will be deemed on parity with indian residing in India the babies referred should be much younger then !

KN