Bombay high court: Let one agency monitor adoptions

By Mayura Janwalkar

In order to control the adoption agencies from over-charging adoptive parents, the Bombay high court on Thursday suggested constitution of a central agency to monitor all adoption agencies that will serve as a route to payment for adoptive parents.

Earlier, commenting on the conditions in adoption centres, the court had said Indians have no right to brag about their culture and heritage, if the children in their adoption centres are treated as “commodities”. The court said the government had done little to stop it from becoming a “corporate venture”.

Justice BH Marlapalle and justice Anoop Mohta said that a central agency consisting of a database of all adoption agencies in the state must provide funds allocated by the government to the various adoption agencies. The court was of the view that the amount spent by the government to look after the children in adoption homes should be the only amount that should be recovered from adoptive parents.

The food, medical and other expenses on each child, depending on their age group, should be calculated and the adoptive parents must pay the amount to the government agency and not to the adoption centre directly. Adoption agencies with younger children should be given more monetary allocation if necessary, the court suggested.

The court was hearing a petition against Pune’s Preet Mandir adoption centre filed by NGOs Advait Foundation and Sakhee, alleging various malpractices. There are 69 adoption centres in Maharashtra. “The state will have to play a very vital role,” the court had said earlier.

Earlier, the court had expressed concern over the future of 450 children lodged at the Preet Mandir adoption centre. It was alleged that the centre was charging Rs5.5 lakh to foreign nationals who adopted children from it.

Pradeep Havnur, advocate for Advait Foundation, said that the court will hear the case again after three weeks.