The Court was dealing with a petition by a couple from Malta challenging a communication issued by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) informing the Specialized Adoption Agency – where the child was housed – about a complaint which had been received by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
The complaint alleged violation of adoption regulations. Through its communication, CARA told the adoption agency to withdraw the couple’s adoption petition from the competent court till the complaint is investigated.
The High Court was told the child was rescued on October 10, 2019 and was produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). She was declared legally free for adoption on July 28, 2020 and was offered for reservation on two separate occasions.
In the two rounds when she was made available for adoption under the special needs category, the petitioners alone applied and no resident Indian, Non-Resident Indian (NRI) or Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) exercised the choice to reserve the adoption.
The child suffered from several ailments, including epilepsy.
However, a dispute arose when the family of the person who had rescued the child made a complaint that they had been taking care of her needs and medical expenses throughout, and had made an application to adopt the child.
Source: Barandbench
