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Unwed mother can be child's guardian without dad's consent, SC says

NEW DELHI: For the first time in three years, adoption of children has seen a slight increase with 1,368 children finding new homes in the quarter between January-March 2015.This is significant as adoptions have been declining every year since 2012-2013, despite the fact that India has one of the largest population of children who are abandoned, deserted or in institutional care. The number is still a fraction admit child rights activists, considering that there are an estimated 50,000 orphan children who require homes.According to latest data available with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) 1,410 children were adopted in April-June 2012. However, the numbers have continued to dip since then hitting an all-time low of 946 children adopted between July-Sept 2014.CARA faces a peculiar situation. Despite the high number of children who need care and protection, it has currently only about 1,200 children available for adoption as against a demand of nearly 10,000 parents. Of this 9,000 are Indian, while the rest are non-resident Indians or foreigners.An awareness campaign and a concerted effort to cut down red-tape in the process of adoption can be credited for the recent spike in numbers. "We have been working with state adoption agencies to match children with the parents. We have also managed to now put 95% of our database online which has also helped,’’ Veerendra Mishra, CARA secretary said.Women and child development (WCD) ministry officials hope to further streamline the process by bringing changes in adoption guidelines. Sources said that plans were underway to separate the changes in the adoption guidelines from the controversial juvenile justice bill that has been stuck because of one contentious clause.Officials said that the new guidelines will reduce interference of state adoption agencies and make the process even faster. In February this year, WCD minister Maneka Gandhi had pulled up adoption agencies for the ``idleness and deliberate lying’’ and said the adoption rate of 800 to 1,000 per year in India was “shameful.” She added that she wanted 15,000 children to be adopted per year failing which the worst performing adoption agencies will be shut down immediately.