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Chapter
7
Official
Links From Government
of India: Guidelines for adoption of Indian children.
Contains extensive information on: Role of Government of India,
List of Recognized Foreign Agencies for Adoption, Procedure
to be followed etc.
CHAPTER VII: Voluntary
Coordinating Agencies (VCA)
7.1 There
shall be a centralized agency namely Voluntary Coordinating
Agency (VCA) in the State or even in a large city where there
are several recognized placement and child welfare agencies.
The principal functions of VCA shall be as follows:-
(a)
It shall actively promote Indian adoption and formulate,
develop and execute programs and activities for generating
awareness in this regard;
(b)
It shall ensure that the priority laid down by the Supreme
Court on placement/adoption within the country or with Indian
abroad is adhered to. All recognized social/child welfare
agencies, Juvenile Welfare Boards and Government homes within
the country, desirous of placing children in adoption/ placement
shall furnish lists of children legally free for adoption
to the concerned VCA and also to CARA;
(c)
It shall maintain a register of all prospective adoptive
parents;
(d)
It shall maintain a register of all available children who
are legally free for adoption;
(e)
It shall coordinate the work of all its member agencies
and other child welf2ire institutions in the field of Indian
adoption. Where Indian adoption is difficult within its
area of operation it shall coordinate with other VCAs in
the State and in the country;
(f)
Where Indian placement is not materialized, it shall issue
a no objection certificate within a period of two months
from the date of receipt of application for 'No objection'
in the VCAs to the recognized placement agency so as to
enable the child to be placed in inter-country adoption;
(g)
In the case of a child requiring immediate medical or surgical
assistance, the VCA may waive the stipulated waiting period
on production of medical certificate as provided in paragraph
4.24 above and issue a no-objection certificate at the earliest;
(h)
It shall call a meeting of member agencies at least once
every quarter;
(i)
In cases where these guidelines are not being followed by
any recognized placement agency, the concerned VCA will
bring it to the notice of CARA with substantive evidence
for taking appropriate action.
7.2 The
VCA shall be registered under the Societies Registration Act
and will comply with all the rules laid down under the Act
and also these guidelines.
7.3 Every
VCA shall have, on its staff, at least two professionally
trained social workers.
7.4 Every
VCA shall have to seek recognition from CARA by means of an
application which shall be routed through the State Government
and the State Government shall offer its comments on such
application within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt
of such application and if no such comments are forthcoming
within the period of 30 days, it shall be presumed that the
State Government has no objection.
7.5 All
the recognized placement agencies (whether doing only in-country
and inter-country adoption) would be entitled to become members
of VCA and those child welfare agencies which are not placing
children in adoption but are merely n-inning homes for children
etc. would also be eligible to be members of VCA. The final
decision in case of the later would rest with the executive
committee of the VCA. If any agency is de-recognized by CARA
on account of malpractice of any other valid reason or any
child welfare agency de-licensed by the State Government,
then it shall cease to be a member of VCA and it shall not
be eligible for membership of VCA unless it is once again
recognized or licensed.
7.6 The
recognized placement agencies would have the right to vote
for electing the executive committee of the VCA. The child
welfare agencies would not enjoy any voting right. The VCA
should be an independent registered body with a democratic
structure. The Chairman should not be connected with either
in-country or intercountry placements.
Structure
of VCA
7.7 There
shall be an executive committee for managing the day-to-day
affairs of VCA. The executive committee shall consist of not
less than 3 members and not more than one-third the number
of members of the VCA.
Executive
Committee of VCA
7.8 The
executive committee of VCA shall comprise:
(a)
The Chairman of VCA.
(b)
A representative of the State Government of the level of
the Deputy Director (Welfare)/Social Welfare or above.
(c)
One senior representative of each scrutinizing agency working
in the jurisdiction of the concerned VCA.
(d)
One representative from the agencies exclusively does Indian
adoption.
(e)
There representatives of the recognized placement agencies
out of these at least two shall be from those placement
agencies which have placed at least 50 per cent children
within the country during last three years to be elected
by the recognized placement agencies which are members of
VCA. The terms of office of the members of the executive
committee of items (c) and (d) shall be two years and they
shall not be eligible for re-appointment for the next succeeding
period of 2 years.
The executive
committee of VCA may appoint staff to carry out the day-to-day
functions of the VCA. Such paid staff would be accountable
to the executive committee.
7.9 The
no-objection certificate issued by the VCA would be signed
and issued by two persons-the Chairperson and MemberSecretary,
both of whom will not be connected with adoption activities
whether in country or inter-country. No recognized placement
agency shall process the application for inter-country adoption
before obtaining the no-objection certificate save in the
case of exceptional and/or exempted categories referred to
above at these guidelines.
The
following are the broad procedure to be followed by the VCA
7.
10 (a) All member agencies must submit a list of children
and prospective adoptive parents on a monthly basis to the
VCA.
(b)
When an agency wishes to place a child in foreign adoption
it must check with the VCA to ascertain whether there is
any Indian parent willing to take the child in adoption.
(c)
The period of 30 days provided for in the Supreme Court
Judgment for trying to place a child with Indian parents
has been found to be inadequate and this should be extended
to 60 days from the date when VCA assistance is sought to
locate an Indian family. This procedure may be adopted during
the period of 5 weeks within which CARA is required to give
a final clearance.
(d)
The time frame for VCA to find a placement in India will
be 60 days as provided in clause (c) above and only after
that, an inter-country placement may be processed.
(e)
If there is difference between the placement agency and
VCA in regard to the clearance of a child for inter-country
adoption, the placement agency concerned may refer the cases
to CARA. In such cases, CARA will decide whether to give
the clearance of the child or not. The decision of CARA
shall be final.
Criteria
for Recognition
7. 11
In order to be recognized as VCA, an agency must fulfil the
following criteria:-
(i)
It should be a society registered under the Societies Registration
Act, 1860.
(ii)
The agency must be recommended by the State Government concerned
for recognition by CARA.
(iii)
The agency should run on a non-commercial and non profitable
basis.
(iv)
Its office-bearers at item (d) and (e) in paragraph 7.8
shall be from recognized placement agencies which have given
children in in-country adoption to the extent of 50% or
more of the total number of children given in the adoption
in a year after excluding handicapped children, siblings
and children above 6 years of age.
(v)
All the office-bearers should be Indian nationals. The initial
recognition of VCA shall be for a period of 3 years.
Renewal
of Recognition
7.12
A VCA which seeks renewal of recognition should apply to CARA
through the State Government for renewal of recognition six
months prior to the date of expiry of the previous recognition.
The following would be the main criteria for renewal of recognition.
(i)
Satisfactory performance in the promotion of in-country
adoptions.
(ii)
Timely submission of reports and returns as may be specified
by CARA.
Withdrawal
of Recognition
7.13
Recognition of a VCA may be withdrawn by CARA on receipt of
a report from the State Government regarding unsatisfactory
performance, after giving the VCA an opportunity to explain
its position. The VCAs should play positive role in bringing
greater coordination among all the placement agencies working
in the area of their operation. Any malpractice, if proved,
would immediately invite action in the shape of de-recognition.
Delay and non-compliance in the submission of reports/returns
asked for by the State Government or CARA may also be a ground
for withdrawal of recognition.
7.14
VCA should conduct the quarterly meetings attended by all
the members entitled and eligible to attend the meetings and
discuss all matters relating to adoption. The minutes of the
meetings should be sent to CARA by the concerned VCA.
Finance
of VCA
7.15
The Government of India in the Ministry of Welfare would give
grant-in-aid to VCA upto 90% of the cost as per prescribed
norms.
Existing
VCAs
7.16
The existing VCAs shall stand superseded as soon as VCAs are
constituted in accordance with these guidelines for the area
of operation of the existing VCAs.
7.17
If in any area there is only one recognized placement agency,
it shall be entitled to become a member of VCA operating in
the most adjacent area.
Source: Embassy
of India
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