Adoption in India: Policies and Experiences

A book written by a professor at the University of Delhi, India, details adoption practices in India. In an interview with Shruba Mukherjee of the Deccan Herald, the book’s author, Dr. Vinita Bhargava, says that in her early days of being an adoptive mother, the most frequent question she was asked was why she had adopted a baby when she had her "own" (biological) child.

"The second most frequent question was whether there was a difference between my biological son and my adopted daughter."

The book arose out of her desire to address some of the common myths about adoption.

Dr. Bhargava explains views about adoption that some who practice the Hindu religion adhere to:

• Some infertile women go through a simulated pregnancy before adopting an infant, in order to have their baby accepted by the family.
• Some adoptive parents are advised not to adopt a child whose family background is unknown, because genes are considered to be more important than good parenting.
• In India non-Hindus — Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis — cannot legally adopt a child. They can, however, take a child as their ward.

When Dr. Bhargava began interviewing adoptive parents for her book, she said that they were initially suspicious. "Parents would like complete integration
of the adopted child into the family and are apprehensive that the
child would be upset at the thought of not being ‘their child.’ Parents
also fear the possibility of relatives or neighbours making hurtful
comments," she said.

If you’d like to read Adoption in India: Policies and Experiences, you can order it at amazon.com.

Link: ‘Adoption closely related to fertility’ – Deccan Herald – Internet Edition.