New rules force charity to give up adoption services

The Missionaries of Charity (MC) has decided to withdraw from the government-controlled adoption process in India, protesting against clauses in the new adoption policy that include provision for single parents to be eligible to adopt children through online registration. “We have voluntarily given up our recognised status to run adoption centres. If we were to continue the work set up by Mother Teresa, complying with all the provisions would have been difficult for us,” the sisters said in a statement on 10 October.

The statement said the decision taken by the MC headquarters in Kolkata was prompted by the new “Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children, 2015” issued by the federal Ministry of Women and Child Development in July.

The MCs are one of the largest partners in the adoption process under the stewardship of CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority) with their 16 children’s homes registered with CARA as recognised centres for adoption.

Their deliberately unpublicised stance hit national headlines after Maneka Gandhi, the Minister for Women and Child Development, made comments on 8 October that were seen as hostile. “Till now the Mother Teresa’s orphanages had their own agenda and now, when they have to come under a unified secular agenda, they are refusing it,” said Ms Gandhi.

MC sources told The Tablet that Mother Teresa wanted adopted children to be given to couples and not single parents to benefit their all-round development. The order also objects to the new guidelines allowing adoptive parents to view photographs and medical examination reports of up to six children.