Foreigners are more likely to adopt children with special needs who are housed in the adoption homes in the country than Indian couples. This is proven by recent figures released by the department of social defence of Tamil Nadu.
As a guideline to adoption agencies, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) suggests taking due consideration of a child’s ethnic and cultural background while putting them through adoption. However, in the absence of any willing Indian couples to adopt children with special needs, foreigners are stepping up.
The data from the department said that in the last three years 35 such children went through adoption. Of them, only three were adopted within the country. Others were adopted by families living in the US or Europe.
Activists pin it down to the social stigma attached to conditions such as developmental delays or locomotive disabilities. The state said it has 39 kids with special needs in adoption centres currently. The same data informs that there are at least 2000 parents awaiting their chance at adoption. However, they refuse to take home a kid with any kind of disability even if it helps them jump the line.
