THE INDIAN LEGAL REGIME REGULATING INTER- COUNTRY ADOPTIONS

Abstract

The need for a specific legislation on the Inter- Country Adoptions (ICA) in India was stated in the 153rd Law Commission Report on ICA, 1994 which led to emergence of Central Adoption Regulating Agency (CARA) guidelines issued in various series of Laxmikanth Pandey’s case which have also acted as source of regulation for inter country adoptions since 1990’s. The paper highlights importance of ICA from the view point of NRI’s and OCI’s and foreigners living in reciprocating (Hague Convention relating to ICA countries) and non-reciprocating countries.  The study also lists out the reasons for fall in the ICA statistics from India to Scandinavian countries.  The aim of the paper is to analyze the provisions of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 with respect to ICA and the comprehensiveness of the provisions incorporated thereby. The paper aims to provide remedies for the fallacies in the implementation of the Act and the role of CARA in dealing with ICA.