India Adoption Program

IAN is pleased to announce the opening of our newest adoption program in India!

India is a perfect program for parents with a spirit of adventure!

India is a land of contradictions: Old-world traditions still dominate the culture, however, have made room for all the benefits of modern living; state of the art technology and immense wealth thrive next to deep poverty and some of the poorest living conditions in the world. These contradictions reflect India's diverse culture and harmony.

The Indian adoption program is a fairly stable program. It is small, but has a long history of placing children with loving families. Every effort is made to place children with parents of Indian heritage in India first, followed by parents of Indian heritage abroad. IF these are unavailable, then children can be placed with foreign parents.

Adoption in India is governed by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), which works closely with local Indian state governments. The state governments regulate and monitor their RIPA's (Recognized Indian Placement Agency) and adoption service providers licensed in their region.

India is a party to the Hague Convention, so adoptive parents must first be found eligible to be an adoptive parent by the US Government by filing the I-800A form with USCIS.

Children in Need

Children become available for adoption in India due to extreme economic hardship on the part of the birth parents, or due to the social stigma of being a single parent in India.  Children are from a wide range of India's diverse cultural and religious backgrounds.

Age

While children between the the ages of 0 and pre-teen years are available for adoption the majority of children placed for adoption are above one year old.

Adopting siblings is possible as well as children with special needs. In 2011 65% of the children placed for adoption were between the age of 1 and 4 years old.

Gender

While gender preference can be indicated by Adoptive Parents, parents are strongly encouraged to be open to a child of either gender.  If a family already has two children of one gender in the home, they are expected to be open to a child of either gender.

Health

Most children adopted from India are healthy.  Parents should be prepared to deal with minor health concerns common in developing countries, including malnutrition and the resulting side effects. Moderate medical care is available.

Adoptive Parent Requirements

Residency

There is no residency requirement in India.  Parents are expected to spend approximately one week with their child in country before returning to the US.

Marital Status

Both single parents and married couples may adopt. A married couple must be married for a minimum of two years to be found eligible to adopt.

To adopt children in the age group of 0-3 years, the maximum composite age of the PAPs should be 90 years wherein the individual age of the PAPs should not be less than 25 years and more than 50 years.

To adopt children above three years of age, the maximum composite age of the PAPs should be 105 years wherein the individual age of the PAPs should not be less than 25 years and more than 55 years.

A single parent desiring to adopt should not be less than 30 or more than 50 years of age. The maximum age shall be 40 years of age to adopt children in the age group of 0-3 years of age and 50 years of age for adopting children above 3 years of age. A single male may not adopt a female child.

Health

Adoptive parents should have good health and should not be suffering from any contagious or terminal disease or any such mental or physical condition which may prevent them from taking care of the child.

Income

Families must meet income requirements as outlined by USCIS.  The homestudy of the family must demonstrate the financial stability of the family.