Mother Theresa's congregation shuns Indian adoption rules

Changes in the adoption rules in India have led the Missionaries of Charity to close all their adoption agencies in the country, because they can no longer turn away single parents or same sex couples.

Sister Mary Prema, the congregation's current superior general said that the congregation, founded by Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, will close the 18 government-recognised centres that offer children for adoption because of the new rules announced last week.

"The decision of seeking the government's de-recognition status for adoption centers applies only to India," Sister Mary Prema told UCANews.com.

"If we were to continue the work set up by Mother Teresa, complying [with] all the provisions would have been difficult for us," a statement from the Missionaries of Charity added.

The guidelines aim to regulate adoptions nationwide. They require all applications and processing to be done online.

The new rules mean that a single woman will be eligible to adopt a child of any gender but a single man is not eligible to adopt a girl child. Parents should also be entitled to view photographs, a child study and medical examination reports for up to six children. Married couples must have been together for two years.

India has one of the worst ratios of adoptions per orphan in the world. Last year just 2,500 of an estimated 30 million orphans were adopted.

The decision to withdraw an adoption service by the congregation has been criticised by architect of the guidelines, Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi. “They have cited ideological issues with our adoption guidelines related to giving a child up for adoption to single, unwed mothers,” she said.

“They have their own agenda and now when they have to come under a unified secular agenda, they are refusing it.”

Under the new system Mrs Gandhi explained, it would be possible to place 50,000 children into adoption through the proper channels by the end of next year. Now 9,000 parents are waiting to adopt children whereas, under the old guidelines, just 800 orphans were registered across India, she added.

India has a serious problem with illegal adoption. The previous system of adoption was so slow and bureaucratic that many parents chose to bypass it.

Mother Theresa set up the Missionaries of Charity for 'the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society' (PA)

A raid by police in Delhi in July highlighted the problem. On a raid on an illegal adoption agency just outside the city, police seized ledgers that showed 23 recent illegal adoptions through the agency - with children being sold for as little as 8,000 rupees (£80) each. Police discovered that the children had been obtained either by stealing or kidnapping - often from hospitals - or through IVF surrogacy.

“Adopting them [children] legally is such a nuisance, so if we make it easier then people won’t go around pinching babies,” Mrs Gandhi said. “For every one registered adoption agency, there are 10 which are not [currently] registered. We have no idea what they do.”

Father Joseph Chinnayan, deputy secretary-general of the national bishops' conference in India, said that the conference backed the Missionaries of Charity congregation’s decision to opt out of the new guidelines as there were basic issues with these clauses.

The first clause meant that unmarried adults in same-sex relationships, couples living together, and those divorced or separated could adopt children, contrary to the Church's thinking about family and parenting, he said.

Father Chinnayan told UCANews: "The bishops endorse the decision of the Missionaries of Charity," adding that church officials will discuss the issue with lawyers to find out more about the consequences of the guidelines and ways to mitigate them.

Sister Prema admitted that she could not say the number of children the nuns give up for adoption every year, but said about one-third of the congregation's adoptions are in India.

The Missionaries of Charity statement said the nuns "will continue to serve wholeheartedly and free of charge unwed mothers, children with malnutrition and differently abled children" in all their institutions "irrespective of caste, creed and religion".

The adoption work started by Mother Teresa "has been a fruitful and rewarding experience, which has changed the lives of thousands of people," it said.

Mother Teresa formed a small community of former pupils with permission from the Vatican in 1950 with the mission to care for "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone".

It began as a small community with 12 members in Calcutta, but has grown to more than 4,500 Sisters running orphanages, Aids hospices, charity centres, and refugees shelters for the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine across the world.

Additional reporting by UCA News and Catholic News Service