Govt plans nationwide registration of adoption agencies

New Delhi, Oct. 5 (PTI): Government plans to launch a nationwide drive to register all adoption agencies in the country to check commercialisation of the adoption process.

The move will be in addition to a new tracking system proposed for monitoring parents with the aim of minimising chances of child abuse.

Unveiling a blueprint for streamlining the adoption process, Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury today said "All adoption agencies must be registered with Central Adoption Resource Authority for increasing transparency (and checking commercialisation of child adoption). For this we are setting up state-level adoption authorities."

"We want a central monitoring system -- to ensure everything is legal and and upfront. We will apply pressure on the unlicensed agencies through state governments," said the minister at a press conference, ahead of the two-day International Conference on Adoption that begins on October eight.

Admitting that mechanisms for checking incidents of post-adoption child abuse needed to be strengthened, Chowdhury said a new software will soon be used for making "adoptee parents fill annual feedback forms, while assuring confidentiality," to keep a track on them.