The Specialised Adoption Agency shall perform the following functions, in addition to those assigned to them under these regulations, to facilitate placement of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children in adoption, namely:-
(1) Function towards children: Every Specialised Adoption Agency shall:-
(a) be responsible for the care, protection and well-being of every child in its charge and shall cater to their health needs; emotional and psychological needs; educational and training needs; leisure and recreational activities; protection from any kind of abuse, neglect and exploitation; social mainstreaming and restoration or as the case may be and follow-up;
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(b) report all cases of admissions, restorations, transfers, death and adoption of children, as well as about children missing from the institution, if any to the Child Welfare Committee, District Child Protection Unit, State Adoption Resource Agency and the Authority through Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System, designated portal for missing child and police;
(c) submit the status of every orphan, abandoned and surrendered child on the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System, which is accessible on the website www.cara.nic.in;
(d) shall upload the certificate, issued by the Child Welfare Committee, declaring the child legally free for adoption in Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System within forty-eight hours from the receipt of such certificate;
(e) prepare the Child Study Report of all orphan, abandoned and surrendered children, through its social worker, and upload them in Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System, within seven days from the date such children are declared legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee;
(f) arrange medical tests, as provided in Schedule IV, for all children admitted into its home and prepare the Medical Examination Report through its pediatrician or doctor for uploading the same in Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System, within seven days from the date such children are declared legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee;
(g) prepare individual care plan for each child following the principle of the best interests of the child and the care options in the following order of preferences:-
(i) restoration to the biological family or legal guardian;
(ii) in-country adoption;
(iii) inter-country adoption;
(iv) foster care; and
(v) institutional care;
(h) create a memory album, which shall include a photo album of the child, history and details of the child’s life (details of surrendering parents not to be mentioned), and interests of the child, which shall be handed over to the adoptive family along with the medical history of the child at the time of handing over the child to the prospective adoptive parents in pre-adoption foster care;
(i) make efforts to place each child in adoption, who has been declared legally free for adoption by Child Welfare Committee;
(j) be responsible to complete referral process of a child to prospective adoptive parents and the legal procedure related to adoption as provided in these regulations;
(k) prepare every adoptable child psychologically for his assimilation with the adoptive family, wherever required;
(l) facilitate interaction of the child with prospective adoptive parents, wherever required;
(m) ensure that siblings and twins are placed in the same family, as far as possible;
(n) preserve adoption records in a manner, that such record is accessible to authorised persons only;
(o) facilitate root search by adoptees in the manner as mentioned in regulation 44.
(2) Functions towards biological parents: Every Specialised Adoption Agency shall:-
(a) treat biological parents of a surrendered child with respect and dignity throughout the surrender process;
(b) maintain confidentiality of unmarried mother and biological parents;
(c) counsel the surrendering parents and inform them about a possible root search, in future by their child;
(d) encourage the biological parents surrendering a child to provide maximum information about the background and development of the child as well as their own health;
(e) explain to the parents implication of surrendering their child including possibility of intercountry adoption;
(f) ensure that the consent for surrender and adoption is given by the parents without any coercion or monetary or material consideration;
(g) have no commitment or agreement with biological parents regarding adoption of a child prior to his birth;
(h) inform the parents that they would have a re-consideration period of sixty days from the date of surrender during which they may take back the child.
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(3) Functions towards prospective adoptive parents: Every Specialised Adoption Agency shall:-
(a) treat prospective adoptive parents with respect and extend due courtesy, assistance and advice;
(b) facilitate registration of prospective adoptive parents in Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System in case they face any difficulty;
(c) counsel the prospective adoptive parents, through an authorised professional social worker or counsellor, to make them aware of the process of adoption and to ascertain the level of their preparedness for the same which include the following, namely:-
(i) acceptance of adoption as an alternative way of building their family;
(ii) preference for child to be adopted;
(iii) emotional readiness to adopt an unrelated child;
(iv) concerns about the social background of the child and genetic factors;
(v) attitude towards parenting and disciplining;
(vi) sharing the fact of adoption with the child, when the child grows up;
(vii) dealing with root search by the adopted child, when the child grows up;
(viii) any other issue that might emerge during the interactions;
(d) complete the Home Study Report of prospective adoptive parents who have opted for the home study by them, within one month from the date of their registration and submission of required documents;
(e) continuously update the prospective adoptive parents of the current status and procedure to be followed during the entire adoption process after the child has been reserved by the prospective adoptive parents;
(f) provide video clips of the children to prospective adoptive parents and facilitate their video calls to children after referral;
(g) provide information to prospective adoptive parents about the medical history of the child and the health status of a special need child, if such a child is proposed for adoption;
(h) provide the immunisation record and recent diagnostic reports as well as any vital information relating to child including his food and social habits and memory album to the prospective adoptive parents;
(i) a copy of the adoption order from the court and the birth certificate or affidavit shall also be provided to the prospective adoptive parents as and when available;
(j) place a child in pre-adoption foster care on completion of referral and after observing necessary procedural formalities as laid down in these regulations;
(k) extend post adoption services including counselling to the prospective adoptive parents, if required;
(l) not receive any payment, other than as specified in the norms prescribed by the Authority from time to time;
(m) advise the prospective adoptive parents to contact adoptive families to understand the process of adoption.
(4) Functions relating to counseling: The functions of the Specialised Adoption Agency in respect of counselling shall include the following, namely:-
(a) counselling of biological parents in case of surrender;
(b) pre-adoption counselling of prospective adoptive parents during preparation of Home Study Report and matching process and linking them to the counseling center at the Authority or State Adoption Resource Agency or District Child Protection Unit, wherever required;
(c) counselling of older children before and during adoption;
(d) counselling of adoptive parents whenever required; and
(e) post-adoption counselling of the adoptees, when contacted by them in search of their roots.
(5) Every Specialised Adoption Agency shall set up at its own home to receive abandoned children and may set up cradle baby points at primary health care centers, hospitals, nursing homes, short-stay and Swadhar Homes for Women.
(6) Documentation and record keeping:
(a) The Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System web portal of the Authority shall be the database and registration system which shall be mandatorily used by all State Adoption Resource Authorities, District Child Protection Units, Specialised Adoption Agencies and Child Care Institutions for the purpose of adoption.
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(b) Every Specialised Adoption Agency shall prepare an individual care plan for each child, based on age and gender specific needs in respect of the following, namely:-
(i) health and medical needs;
(ii) emotional and psychological needs;
(iii) educational and training needs;
(iv) leisure, creativity and play;
(v) attachments and relationships;
(vi) protection from all forms of abuse, neglect and maltreatment;
(vii) rehabilitation including reunion with family, adoption and other non-institutional care;
(viii) social mainstreaming; and
(ix) follow-up after rehabilitation or restoration.
(c) Every Specialised Adoption Agency shall keep the following documents in the case file of each child, namely:-
(i) case history and social investigation report of the child;
(ii) interim care order as well as the order declaring the child legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee and the Deed of Surrender in case of a relinquished child;
(iii) Child Study Report, Medical Examination Report and immunization record of the child;
(iv) photographs of the child taken at intervals of every six months;
(v) application form, documents and Home Study Report of the prospective adoptive parents;
(vi) adoption petition, adoption order and birth certificate of the child;
(vii) post-placement progress reports of the child.
(d) Every Specialised Adoption Agency shall maintain the following records namely:-
(i) master admission register;
(ii) medical and development file of the child;
(iii) case file of the child;
(iv) attendance register of the children and staff;
(v) register of adopted children with details of adoptive parents (date of registration, date of Home Study Report, date(s) of referral of child or children, date of court order, date of handing over of the child to prospective adoptive parents, etc.);
(vi) vouchers, cashbook, ledger, journal and annual accounts;
(vii) grant and adoption fees receipt and utilization register;
(viii) stock register; and
(ix) record of minutes of meetings of the management committee and Adoption Committee (to be maintained separately).
(7) Other functions: Every Specialised Adoption Agency shall also:-
(a) organise training and orientation activities to spread awareness about adoption programme;
(b) train its childcare and professional staff about the procedures provided in the provision of these Regulations; and
(c) ensure that each case of inter-country adoption of prospective adoptive parents is disposed of within four months from the date of receipt of application with the assistance of Authorised Foreign Adoption Agency, Authority and State Agency as provided in sub-section (2) of section 62 of the Act.