India: "Adoption a commercial deal"

From Indian Express:

Child adoption process in the country came under the Supreme Court’s scrutiny on Thursday with the court demanding an explanation from the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the government’s Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) on the charge that adoption of babies has become nothing more than a “commercial transaction” involving private placement agencies.

A three-judge Bench, led by Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia, issued notices to the government and CARA to explain why adopting parents are made to wait for months, entangled in “reams of red-tape”, and foreign parents find it easier to adopt than their Indian counterparts.

The CARA has “failed on every count” to monitor and regulate placement agencies, contends the petition filed by 2011 Padma Shri winner Nomita Chandy’s adoption agency Ashraya.

“Total apathy and corruption of the respondents (ministry and CARA) has led to the adoption process being reduced to a farce, and empowering opaque state-run children’s homes and criminal private individuals to play with the lives of adoptable children and adopting parents, very often reducing the solemn process of adoption to a commercial transaction involving little babies.”