Procedure for Adoption by Relative (Non-Religious Law)

As a relative of a child, following the non-religious law to adopt, you can adopt both within India and also do inter-country adoptions.

Adoption within India (In-Country Adoption)

Follow the steps given below for adopting a child through in-country relative adoption i.e. adoption within India.¹ 

Step 1: You should determine if you can adopt the child. You must be related to the child in any of the following ways:² 

• You must be his/her paternal uncle or aunt,
• You must be his/her maternal uncle or aunt, 
• You must be his/her paternal grandparent, 
• You must be his/her maternal grandparent.

You must also be³ either a Resident Indian or Non-Resident Indian (NRI) or an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) residing in India for at least one year.

Step 2: You must register on the website of Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), here. It will redirect you to Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS). You should submit the required documents,⁴ which are:

• Proof of residence 
• Consent of the child, if the child is aged more than 5 years
• Consent of the biological parents in this format , or permission from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to the legal guardian of the child to surrender the child and give him/her up for adoption in this format 
• Adoption order from court, as described in step 3. 
• Affidavit in support of you and your spouse’s relationship, and your financial and social status in this format

Step 3: Thereafter, you must file an adoption application with the relevant Court, in this format. Once obtained, you must upload it on Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS).

For more information on the procedure, please see here.

Adoption across Countries (Inter-Country Adoption)

Follow the steps given below for adopting a child through inter-country relative adoption.⁵ 

Step 1: You should determine if you can adopt a child. You may adopt a relative’s child if you are a Non-Resident Indian or an Overseas Citizen of India. 

Step 2: You should approach the relevant authority i.e. the Authorized Foreign Adoption Agency or the Central Authority in your country of residence. In case there is no Authorized Foreign Adoption Agency or Central Authority in your country of residence, then you should approach the relevant Government department or Indian diplomatic mission (in cases of Indian citizens) in that country. They will guide you on the home study that will be conducted and once that is done, the registration process.

Step 3: You should submit the required documents.  Please ask the authority you have approached for more details on this. 

Step 4: Once your documents have been submitted, the authority will forward your application to the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) for a family background report ( this might be chargeable). See here for more details on the report. This report will be forwarded to the receiving country and the relevant authority. 

Step  5: You should file an application for adoption to Court in the district where the child resides in this format, with a consent form from the biological parents and all the other documents, which are:

• Consent of the child, if the child is more than 5 years old
• Permission of the receiving country
• Your relationship with the child (family tree)
• Recent family photographs of you, the child and the biological parents
• Consent of the biological parents in this format or permission from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) to the legal guardian of the child to surrender the child and give him/her up for adoption in this format 
• Family background report 

Thereafter, you should furnish a certified copy of the adoption order to the DCPU. 

Step 6: The relevant authority will provide a No Objection Certificate (NOC) in favor of the adoption within ten days of receiving the adoption order from the DCPU. 

For more information, please see here. 

1. Regulation 51, Adoption Regulations, 2017.[↩]
2. Section 2(52), Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.[↩]
3. Ministry of Women and Child Development, Central Adoption Resource Authority, Relative Adoption (In-country), http://164.100.158.243/carings/family/famhome.aspx.[↩]
4. Schedule VI, Adoption Regulations, 2017.[↩]
5. Regulation 53, Adoption Regulations, 2017.[↩]