What are the international adoption regulations for adopting in India if youm live in the UK?

Heather B

You Will probably get some advice here:

http://www.icacentre.org.uk/

also,
From the British High Commission

"Adopted Children

9. You should note that if you are a British citizen, and you adopt a child overseas, the adoption will not of itself confer British citizenship on the child. However, it may be possible for the child to be registered at the Home Secretaryâ€™s discretion. Enquiries about registration should be sent to one for the addresses listed in paragraph 17 (that paragraph tells you which address to write to, depending on where you are living)."

Randy B

I can't tell you what the Brit regs are but I can let you know a bit about what the Indian regs are. My wife and I adopted from there years ago when I was working at our Embassy in New Delhi.

First off, adoptive parents need to realize that in order for an Indian child to be adopted out of the country they must first be "cleared" for foreign adoption. What this means is that they must first be offered for adoption to Indian families before they can be adopted overseas. For girls it's 3 Indian families but for boys it's 5 so you can see that they make it harder for boys to leave the country.

Secondly, if adoption by Indian families has not been possible it's likely that there are issues with the child that you will need to be willing to deal with. Either medical, developmental or other factors may have made them less likely to be adopted within the country. Sheer volume of children needing homes does not normally come into play. My daughter was 8 months old when we took her into our home but she only weighed 10 lbs (4.5 kg). As a result of her malnurishment she displays very mild symptoms similar to FASD however its not FASD. She's in a modified school program and doing quite well...other then that she's fine.

Thirdly, many agencies (but certainly not all) within the country will ask you to sponsor the child while the paperwork is being done. Many parents show up in the country to pick up their children and retun home, assuming that they have paid all of the necessary fees. Often times they are "held hostage" by some of the organizations who demand another payment before the child can be taken. Of course, once you are there (and emotionally committed) you will pay what ever is necessary and they know that.

With all of this please know that successful and trouble free adoptions are very possible. Just keep on top of things, act with your head and not your heart and be on the look out for scams. We adopted from the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa's organization) orphanage in the old part of Delhi and it worked wonderfully for us. We were in the country at the time though and able to work directly with the system.

When we were there, at that one home, there were about 25 babies, 30-40 toddlers and many more older children in need of homes. Many had medical issues, many others were brought in by police and were previously street children. All seemed well cared for, or as well as could be expected, and were happy and glad to see visitors. They were in school, if old enough, and the older children were expected to help with the care of the younger kids.

Good luck and God bless.

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