Subject: Petition to Repeal the New VCA Clearance Rules for Adoption by NRIs
We, the undersigned, as Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and friends of NRIs, are writing to gain your support on a very important issue that affects not just us but the numerous orphan children of India. We would like to bring to your attention a petition regarding adoption from India by NRIs and recent rules implemented by Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) in India, which make adoptions even more difficult for NRIs and place NRIs on the same footing as foreigners.
This petition is addressed to CARA & Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.
The petition was made available on the Internet on March 3rd, 2004 and has now amassed nearly 2000 signatures and support continues to grow everyday.
A copy of the petition is attached and the petition along with the signatures can be viewed online on the Internet at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/NRIAdopt/petition.html
India is a country of over 1 billion people with 44 million destitute children and over 12 million orphan children. Yet there are only 5000 adoptions in India every year. Since only a tiny fraction (0.04%) of orphan children are getting adopted in India the real problem seems to lie in making orphan children available for adoption. This is an issue that needs to be addressed to make adoptions more numerous in India but it cannot be helped by penalizing a group like the NRIs who want to adopt. Our appeal to all parties is to work to increase the number of adoptions of orphan children in India on all fronts.
Importantly, the new rules are also in contrast to the stated commitment of the Indian government to build bridges with the Indian Diaspora - NRIs and PIOs - and not alienate it. This new ruling is in contradiction of that goal.
Background of the Petition: Basically the new VCA ruling requires orphans to go through additional clearances before an NRI family can adopt them. These requirements place NRIs on the same footing as foreigners. To get this clearance for the child to be adopted by an NRI family, certain conditions have to be met:
1) The orphan child has to be shown to at least 3 local Indian families who must reject the child before he/she can be shown to an NRI family
2) The orphanage needs to file additional paperwork to get clearance from the VCA
3) Additional state level clearance is also needed for a healthy child younger than 3 years of age.
The claimed intent of the new law is to give preference to local adoptive families in India. However there is no reason to believe that interests of NRI adoptive families are contradictory to them and here is why. NRI families are already limited to work only with CARA agencies that are authorized for inter-country adoptions. Local Indian families have a much greater choice of orphanages and agencies to work with - ones that NRI families are not even eligible to work with and therefore could not have the opportunity to adopt a child ahead of a local Indian family.
There are several negative consequences of the new laws as follows:
More orphan children in India continue to suffer: Tragically, this ruling means that orphan children can now languish in resource-strapped orphanages until they have been "rejected" by three local families even if there is a long line of NRI parents willing to adopt them right away. Unfortunately, there is no stipulated maximum time limit set for this step and the child cannot be offered for inter-country adoption no matter how long this step takes.
India's Orphanages suffer: Moreover the additional bureaucratic burden imposed on India's orphanages not only makes things harder for them but also forces them to make their already sparse resources work for an even greater number of orphan children. Overall, our understanding is that the VCA clearance could introduce a delay as long as 6-12 months long or more on an already lengthy process.
Choices for NRIs get harder: Moreover, as one can imagine, these conditions can have a chilling effect on NRI adoptions from India and some have even suggested that NRI families may be forced to look to other countries to build their families. That would be a tragedy for India's orphan children.
The new law contradicts Indian Government's efforts to strengthen India's bond with NRIs: NRIs are now living all over the world but they are still bound very strongly to India by a common culture and heritage that we all cherish. The Indian government recognizes this bond and over the last couple of years has launched multiple initiatives to strengthen ties with NRIs and PIOs. Quite often, when NRIs decide to adopt a child, we once again look to India to build our families. However, the new rules are an impediment to the NRI families who believe adoption is a unique way to strengthen cultural and family ties with India.
Incidentally, the current VCA clearance process is in violation to Supreme Court directive, which suggests that the VCA clearance should not take more than 3-4 weeks (L.K. Pandey v. Union of India, the Supreme Court of India directive). Now by imposing this additional mandatory requirement the VCA clearance system is going to be taxed even more, making this situation possibly worse.
Please lend this petition your support. We NRIs want to do everything in order to continue this proud tradition of families of Indian origin adopting orphan children from India. Those of us who have adopted from India or are in the process of doing so are filled with dread at the ugly prospect facing India's orphans.
We need to reverse this law and make adoption of orphans in India a process that is aligned with the interests of the children and not detrimental to them. Please give this matter your utmost and urgent consideration. NRI families are hopefully and eagerly waiting to be united with their children.
Yours Sincerely,
Sonya Pelia
On behalf of NRIs and friends of NRIs in India and all over the world who are signatories of the attached petition.
Email: NRI_Adopt@yahoo.com