Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is a statutory body of Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India.
It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.
CARA is designated as the Central Authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the
Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003.
CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies.
Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) who wish to adopt a child legally, please register yourself online on https://carings.wcd.gov.in
There is a separate protocol for NRIs/OCI they need to register through AFAA.
Please refer to Schedule VI of Adoption Regulations, 2022, specifying list of
documents to be upload while registering online. Click on this link:
(For Hindi please refer
page 68-73, For English please refer page 193-196).
Please refer to the eligibility criteria of PAPs given in Section 57 of JJ Act, 2015
(amended in 2021) link: and Regulation 5 of Adoption Regulation, 2022 link:
No, however CARA always upholds the best interest of the child.
Please visit CARA's website and go through the Adoption Regulations, 2022 for process of adoption. You may also refer to the protocols available on CARA website to understand the adoption process of the inter country adoption.
For Orphan, Abandoned or Surrendered:
For relative:
The adoption data can be accessed from CARINGS Dashboard and the link for the same is provided below:
Section 40 of JJ Act, 2015 (amended in 2021), deals with restoration of child in
need of care and protection. In case you are interested to know about the welfare of the
child, you may approach the Child Welfare Committee of the district. You may note that
the JJ Act, 2015 is meant for safety, welfare and permanency of all orphans, abandoned
and surrendered children.
You may note that “PAPs" need to wait for the finalization of divorce, as it will
change their category as “Single”. Accordingly, their HSR will be re-validated.
All the Adoption Orders issued by the Courts are now replaced by Adoption Order
issued by the District Magistrate, as per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Amendment Act, 2021. Except for Maharashtra, since the matter is subjudice
and as an interim relief to the PAPs lower courts have been asked to issue the adoption
orders till final judgement is out.
You can get information about the eligibility and procedure for adoption by step
parent which are available under the “Parents” main menu at our website . For more information please refer the protocol for the same
The eligibility and procedure for adoption by step parent can be seen on CARA
Website under the “Parents” main menu. For more information
please refer the protocol for the same.
There is no such provision. Further, please check the Regulation 49 of the
Adoption Regulations 2022 regarding adoption fees (refer Schedule XV).
(refer page 214-216)
It may be case specific and it all depends on the best interest of the child where
CARA can take appropriate decision.
No.
You may contact the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) to know about foster
care programme.
You may approach to the State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA) of the State in
this matter.
Child adoption can be done by either single PAPs or married couple with 2 years of
stable marriage. Please visit CARA's website and go through
the Adoption Regulations, 2022 for process of adoption.
Annual Reports Reports are available year wise in both Hindi and English and can
be downloaded from CARA’s website under “Resources” main
menu.
Information regarding requisite documents are available on CARA website. Kindly
click on this link
(Schedule VI, refer page: 193-196).
All data available on CARA website. Kindly click on this link
Information can be seen by clicking on this link
No, the PAPs are not ruled out on the basis of financial status.
All data available on CARA website. Kindly click on this link
(Section 38 refers) and
[Regulation 6(7) refers].
Circular available on CARA website. Kindly click on this link
CARA’s Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/CARAWCD/
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/cara_mwcd/
Twitter- https://twitter.com/CARAWCD
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@cara_mwcd
- all are active.
CARA’s Social Media handles all managed by the In-house Media Team.
The waiting period of PAPs depends upon their seniority and availability of
children as per the preference of children given by PAPs regarding age, gender, health
State/UT of child etc. However, the PAPs can access their seniority with their login ID and
password.
Time period depends upon PAP’s seniority and availability of children as per their
preference of children regarding age, gender, health State/UT of child etc. Seniority can be
access by PAPs with their log in ID and password.
One can refer to the protocols uploaded on the CARA website to understand the
process of Step Parent adoption:
The waiting period for adoption depends upon seniority of PAPs in the chosen
States as well as availability of children in those States/UT’s in the particular age group.
It is also depend on the preference of the PAPs.
Please refer Schedule XXXIII, Part 2 of Adoption Regulations, 2022 for details in
this regard. You can access a copy of the Regulations from (please refer page 248)
The eligibility criteria of PAPs are mentioned in Section 57 of the JJ Act, 2015 as
well as in Regulation 5 of the Adoption Regulation, 2022. Further to mention that Section
57(4) and Regulation 5(2)(c) clearly mentions that a single male is not eligible to adopt a
girl child.
The entire adoption process is carried out in accordance with the provisions of
juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (amended in 2021) and
Adoption Regulations 2022. The database of Prospective Adoption Parents (PAPs) is
maintained and managed through designated CARINGS portal. There is no manual
intervention at any stage in the process.
The seniority list is dynamic. The waiting period and seniority depends on the
number of Prospective Adoptive Parents, the availability of legally free children for
adoption and preference of children age, gender, health status, preference of State/UT etc.
Please refer Regulations 09 & 11 of the Adoption Regulations, 2022 which deal
with priority in referral of a child from a SAA through the designated Portal to PAPs.
The adoption process is system-driven and dynamic, and depends on the
availability of legally free children in the Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) adoption
Preference, subject to PAP’s seniority queue.
Seniority is variable and influenced by factors such as the count of potential
adoptive parents, the availability of legally free children for adoption, and the performance
of children in terms of age, gender, health status, and the preferences of the state/union
territory.
As per Regulation 11(2), “On the basis of seniority, the prospective adoptive
parents shall be referred maximum three referral with one month interval in between two
consecutive referrals subjects to availability of children through the designated portal
which shall include their photographs, child study report and medical examination report,
in their preference category, if any, from one or more Specialized Adoption Agencies”. It all
depends on availability of children.
The adoption process is carried out by Central Adoption Resource Authority
(CARA) in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 (as amended 2021) and Adoption
Regulations 2022. The waiting period depends on the seniority of Prospective Adoptive
Parents (PAPs) and of legally free children on the bases of preference of Prospective
Adoptive Parents as per age, gender, health status, state etc. There is no waiting period for
adopting children having special needs, those available in the category of immediate
placement and also for reserving a child through 7 days portal meant for RI/NRI/OCI
PAPs. At present, the numbers of Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) are much more than
the available legally free children in the portal.
If any specific case comes to CARA from the Non-Hague Signatory Country then it
would be addressed on Merit.
Query related to the Guardians And Wards Act (GAWA), 1890. CARA does not deal
with GAWA Act.
Information regarding procedure to adopt child in case of NRI & OCI PAPs under
HAMA Act, 1956 are available on CARA website. Kindly click on this link
(Chapter VIII, refer page 172).
Regulation 49 of Adoption Regulations, 2022 states that the prospective adoptive parents shall bear the expenses for adoption and the Specialised Adoption Agencies shall adhere to the adoption fees and their utilisation pattern as provided in the Schedule XV which shall be revised by the Authority from time to time. In continuation of the same, the Steering Committee of the Authority in its 36th meeting held on 02/01/2024 has decided that the adoption fees once submitted by the prospective adoptive parents to the Specialised Adoption Agencies, stands non-refundable.
| Name | Landline | |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Jagannath Pati, Director | j[dot]pati[at]nic[dot]in | 011-26760402 |
