WCD Ministry Data Reveals 80 % Adopted Children In 0-2 Age Group

Children adopted: Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday said that since 2015, 80 per cent of children adopted in the country were in the age group 0-2 years. 

Smriti Irani in response to a question in Rajya Sabha presented the data from 2015-16 to 2020-21 recorded till February 3, 2021. The data also showed that only two per cent adoption took place in the age group of 10 to 18.

WCD Data on the number of children adopted:

The data shows that 16,856 children were adopted within India since 2015, out which 13,495 are in the age-group of 0 to 2 years. 1,340 were between 2 to 4 years, 889 in 4-6 years, 401 in 6-8 years, 350 aged 8-10 years, 192 in 10-10 years, 100 in 12-14 years and only 59 children were adopted in the 14-18 years age-group. 

Clearly more young children were adopted. The data shows the preference for newborns and children below 2 years of age. Irani said that till February 3, 2021, 725 children below the age of three months were adopted. According to the WCD Minister, section 38 of the Care and Protection of Children Act 2015 states that orphaned and abandoned children need to be declared free for legal adoption in the time span of two months of the child is younger than two years and within four months in case the child is older than that.  

She said, "The surrendered children are required to be declared legally free for adoption after two months (reconsideration period) from the date of surrender of the child."