Adherence to the guidelines and statutory provisions governing inter-country adoption is crucial to ensure the welfare of the child and the suitability of the adoptive parents.

This application is directed against the order dated 17/01/2014, passed by the Principal Judge, Family Court, Ranchi in Guardianship/Adoption Case No. 64 of 2013, holding therein that keeping in view the welfare of the child Shalini, she cannot be ordered to be given in Inter Country Adoption in favour of respondent nos. 1 and 2 and, thereby, the said case was dismissed for the reasons recorded herein under:-

(1) Prospective Adoptive Parent (PAP) has not been examined.

(2) PAP is required to come to the country to take the child to his country, whereas in this case respondent no. 2 has been authorized.

(3) After matching the child the Specialized Adoption Agency (SAA) should have advised PAP to see the child physically before she gives her acceptance, which has not been done.

(4) Sufficient proof is not there that the recognized agency had made effort to place the child in adoption within the country.

2. Challenging the said order, Mr. Jagdeep Kishore, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the matter relating to intercountry adoption never seems to have been decided as per the guidelines issued by the Central Government named as 'Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children, 2011' and, thereby, the Court committed illegality in dismissing the application for adoption.

3. Before adverting to the further submissions advanced in this regard, one needs to take the background under which the aforesaid guidelines regarding adoption were issued by the Central Government. The law with regard to inter-country adoption was in state of flux until the principals governing giving of Indian children in adoption to foreign parents and the procedure that should be followed in this regard to ensure absence of any abuse, maltreatment or trafficking of children came to be laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in a case of “Lakshmi Kant Pandey-versus-Union of India [(1984) 2 SCC 244]”. That case has been instituted on a letter addressed to the Court by one Lakshmi Kant Pandey, practicing advocate of the Supreme Court with regard to alleged malpractices indulged in by social and voluntary organizations engaged in the work of offering Indian children in adoption to foreign parents. After an elaborate consideration of the various dimensions of the questions, which were raised before the Court by several entities including Government functionaries offered elaborate suggestions to ensure that the process of such adoption is governed by strict norms and a well laid down procedure to eliminate the possibility of abuse or misuse in offering Indian children for adoption by foreign parents. The Court also laid down the approach that is required to be adopted by the Courts while dealing with the applications under the Guardians and Wards Act seeking orders for appointment of foreign prospective parents as guardian of Indian Children. The Hon'ble Court on amongst the other suggestions came with the following suggestions:-

“Of course, it would be desirable if a Central Adoption Resource Agency is set up by the Government of India with regional branches at a few centers which are active in inter-country adoptions. Such Central Adoption Resource Agency can act as a clearing house of information in regard to children available for inter-country adoption and all applications by foreigners for taking Indian children in adoption can then be forwarded by the social or child welfare agency in the foreign country to such Central Adoption Resource Agency and the latter can in its turn forward them to one or the other of the recognized social or child welfare agencies in the country.”

4. Pursuant to the said decision, the Government of India formed a body known as Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA). At the same time, it came with a guideline named as 'Guidelines For Adoption From India 2006', laying down the elaborate provisions to regulate the matter relating to adoption including inter-country adoption. In course of time, significant