New Delhi: A one day National Seminar on Adoption was held today as curtain raiser to the Children’s Festival “Hausala 2017” being celebrated as Child Right’s Week by the Ministry of Women & Children Development. Organized by Central Adoption Resources Authority, the seminar was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Dr. Virendra Kumar. Nearly 300 participants including senior officers of WCD Ministry, CARA, State WCD officials, SARAs, adoption agencies, Child Welfare Committees, District Child Care Protection Units among others attended the seminar.
In his inaugural address, the Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Dr Virendra Kumar, lauded the efforts of adoption agencies and said that it is commendable that they have chosen to work in this area which requires a lot of sensitivity and dedication. Dr. Virendra Kumar said that the States play a pivotal role in adoption since CARA has to coordinate the process of adoption with the help of State governments and State agencies. While some states are performing well, others have not shown good progress, but it is very important for everybody to undersand the need for love, care and affection among the children living in Child Care Institutions and give proper attention to adoption, he said.
Dr. Virendra Kumar said that there are 18000 Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) registered with CARA and 55-60% of those parents have expressed desire to adopt a girl child. The people are now celebrating the girl child and we believe that it is the outcome of the popularity of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme launched by the Prime Minister. He said that the adoption of physically and mentally challenged children still remains a weak area and mostly foreign PAPs have expressed their desire to adopt them. The Minister said that the government will soon launch the process of categorizing and ranking adoption agencies on the basis of their performance. The best performing agencies will be rewarded and projected as role model.
Joint Secretary, WCD, Smt Astha Saxena Khatwani said that being brought up in a family is the right of every child. Even the new JJ Act lays emphasis on providing non-institutional care to orphan/abandoned children. So all the stake holders have to remain pro-active in the process of adoption to ensure a loving and caring home for every orphan child. Secretary CARA, Shri Deepak Kumar gave the details and objectives of the seminar.
The purpose of the seminar was to discuss the issues and concerns pertaining to adoption programme, the role of SARAs, DCPUs & CWCs, legislations governing adoption in the country and strategies to further streamline the Adoption Programme and; sharing of Good Practices and way ahead to regulate and expedite the adoption process. The seminar deliberated upon issues pertaining to adoption legislations, implementation issues of the adoption programme, counselling & preparation of older children for adoption and best practices being adopted by various agencies.
A large number of activities are being organized as part of “Hausala 2017” including Bal Sansad, Bal Utsav, Athletics meet and sports event, painting competition, speech writing among others. The objective of the “Hausala 2017” is to provide an opportunity for children residing in Child Care Institutions, a platform for expression, participation and recreation. The festival is being organized from 15th to 20th November, 2017.
