Supreme Court Guidelines on Adoption

 Supreme Court Guidelines on Adoption

As previously said, the concept of inter-country adoption is a relatively new concept in the world of

adoption. The legislators did not consider it to be one of their highest priorities. In the past, and in

the present, there has been and continues to be no legislation that specifically addresses the rules

governing international adoption. However, in the year 1984, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, in

the landmark decision of Laxmikant Pandey Vs. Union of India, put out a few principles defining the

procedures for inter-country adoption, which are still in effect today. Initially, the case was brought

on the basis of a letter written to the court by a lawyer named Laxmikant Pandey, who claimed that

social organisations and volunteer agencies engaged in the job of placing Indian children with foreign

parents were committing fraud and indulging in malpractices. They were accused of not only being

subjected to a torturous journey to faraway foreign countries at the danger of their lives, but also of

becoming prostitutes and beggars after their adoption.... It was in this instance that the Supreme

Court declared its opinion and established specific regulations for inter-country adoption. "While

supporting inter-country adoption, it is important to remember that the primary goal of placing the

child for adoption is the welfare of the community. As a result, great caution must be exercised in

allowing the child to be placed for adoption to foreign parents, lest the child may be neglected or

abandoned by the adoptive parents in the foreign country, or the adoptive parents may not be able

to provide for the child's basic needs." It went on to outline the requirements for international

adoption in more detail. "First and foremost, every application from a foreigner wanting to adopt a

child must be sponsored by a social or child welfare agency that has been recognised or licenced by

the government of the nation in which the foreigner is a resident," the document added. There

should be no direct response to any application by a foreigner for the adoption of a child in India by

any social welfare agency in India that works in the area of inter-country adoption, or by any

institution or centre or home to which children are committed by the juvenile court." That was not

the end of the Supreme Court's reasoning. In addition, the age at which a child should be adopted in

the case of inter-country adoption was stipulated by the court. "If a child is to be placed for adoption

through an inter-country adoption, it would be preferable if the kid were to be placed for adoption

before reaching the age of three years." Such a judgement was handed down by the Supreme Court

because it believed that if a kid is adopted by a foreign parent before the age of three, the child has

a better chance of adapting into the new surroundings and culture. Another important rule

established by the Court during the course of the case was that "because there is no statutory

provision in our country providing for the adoption of a child by foreign parents or laying down the

procedures which must be followed in such a case, recourse had to be made to the provisions of the

Guardian and Wards Act, 1890 for the purpose of felicitating such adoption." Following this decision,

the Indian courts steadily expanded the scope of adoption to include children from other nations in

their rulings. In later decisions, the courts have also defined the term "custody" in a way that makes

adoption more straightforward. It was stated by the Bombay High Court in Re Jay Kevin Salerno

[AIR1988 BOM139] that "where the custody of a child is with an institution, and the child is kept in a

private nursing home or with a private party for better individual care of the child, it does not follow

that the institution has lost custody of the child." Accordingly, it may be argued that, in the absence

of clear law on the matter, the Supreme Court has played a crucial role in regulating the adoption of

tendered aged children by foreign families.