60% Children Adopted In India Between 2015 & 2018 Were Girls, Reveals Govt Data

While India’s gender ratio might be skewed, but for parents who are looking to adopt, a girl child is slowly becoming their first preference. Data released by the government shows that between 2015 and 2018, more girls were adopted from Indian adoption centres than boys. Of all the children who had been placed in adoption over the last three years, 6,962 were girls and 4,687 boys. The data showed both in-country and inter-country adoption.

More number of girls were adopted

Reportedly, the data was tabled by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in the Lok Sabha on February 8, where the former was replying to questions asked by Tej Pratap Sigh Yadav, L.R. Shivarame Gowda and Anju Bala.

Scroll reported Minister of State Virendra Kumar as saying, “It has been noticed that number of female children placed in in-country and inter-country adoptions has been more in number than the male children during last three years and current year [upto December 2018].” When all the figures are put together, the percentage of in-country adoption for girls was at about 60% while for inter-country adoption, the percentage of girl children being adopted was 69%.

Sindhu Naik, member, Adoption Scrutiny Committee, State Council of Child Welfare (Karnataka) told The Hindu that one needs to see if more girls are coming to the adoption centre. Naik further stated that while the urban middle class is aware of the of a girl child’s situation in India, the same may not be for those in India’s hinterlands.

Number of children who died

While that might be the status of the percentage of adoption, another answer to a question posed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor shows that 1,265 children in specialised adoption agencies across India had died between April 2014 and January 2019.

Minister of State Virendra Kumar in his reply said that Maharashtra has seen the most number of deaths followed by Uttar Pradesh and then Bihar. According to the response, there are 484 SAAs in India in which 26,464 children were enrolled between that time period. While the government does not provide us with the details of the deaths, The Times Of India reported Central Adoption Resource Authority officials, who worked closely with SAAs, said that one of the reasons might be related to the conditions in which these children are found. However, a top-ranking official also said that neglect and lack of medical care also contribute to death. CARA CEO Deepak Kumar told the daily that there were homes which were lacking in medical facilities and urgently needed attention.