MUMBAI: Bombay high court has observed that there is nothing wrong if parents of two disabled children want to adopt a third, normal child, and directed the authorities to consider a Mumbai couple’s plea afresh in six weeks, reports Swati Deshpande.
The court quashed a 2023 decision by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) disallowing the couple’s plea to adopt a third child as they already had two children. CARA invoked its 2023 executive order that disentitled the adoption of a normal child when prospective adoptive parents already had two biological children. The couple said both their kids, born in 2014 and 2019, fell under the Persons with Disabilities Act.
A couple with two disabled children can pursue adoption of a third, normal child, Bombay HC has ruled. “There is nothing wrong if they are looking for a new hope and optimism with their ability to receive an additional member in their family and, by doing so, achieve a mutual fulfilment to make life more meaningful,” Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna said in an April 7 order.
The HC observed that existing regulations framed in 2022 governing adoption contained a ‘power to relax’ rules, especially when dealing with ‘special situations’ like the one faced by the couple, and the regulations ought to have been applied holistically to the case.
Besides, the HC said, a statutory mandate can never intend that a couple with two disabled children could be barred from adopting a normal child. “Human life itself is a mixed bag of aspirations, expectatio-ns, and challenges,” the bench said. Deep fulfilling bonds with children contribute to a meaningful life to elicit satisfaction amidst expectations nurtured by such individuals, the judges added in what they termed “passing thoughts”.
The couple had registered themselves on the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System, a CARA portal, on Sept 10, 2022, to adopt a child. The adoption regulations of 2017 were in force then. While their application was pending, new adoption regulations came into effect on Sept 22, 2022, which provided that couples with two biological children would be considered only for ‘special needs’ or ‘hard to place children’. Under the rules, a ‘hard to place’ child includes a normal child under the age of five not placed in adoption within 60 days of referral. The couple argued that the adoption plea was “arbitrarily rejected”. Under the 2017 rule applicable to their case, authorities were required to complete a Home Study Report in 30 days of applicants having uploaded requisite documents, which had been completed on Sept 10. But the central and state adoption authorities invoked the 2022 regulations for them. In March 2023, the central authority said the 2022 regulations barred adoption of a normal child by a couple with two prior kids, but said such prospective adoptive parents were eligible for children available on the ‘Immediate Placement or Special Needs portal’.
In Sept 2024, the couple sought an exemption from CARA. With no reply, and their plea already rejected, they petitioned HC in 2025 to quash the Central Authority’s decision. The HC held the rejection was “not reasoned” and ruled that the plea “deserved special consideration”‘ and not by “mechanically applying the 2022 regulations”.