1.

Identify the child you wish to adopt

At the outset you shall have to find a child, who shall necessarily be a minor, and whose parent / parents / guardian / guardians are willing to give the child in adoption.

In case you wish to obtain the child from an orphanage, the same has to be government recognised, and in such an event you shall have to obtain an eligibility certificate from the competent court.

In case you are not from India, apart from obtaining such certificate from your country of residence, you shall also have to obtain the permission of the court to adopt the child.

2.

Ascertain whether you are legally entitled to adopt the child.

You shall have to find out and ascertain, whether under the given circumstances you are eligible to adopt a child, and if yes what kind. You shall have to also ascertain whether the parent or guardian of the child is capable of giving the child in adoption and lastly whether the child itself is capable of being adopted. Since this is a pretty complicated issue and varies from case to individual case, you should seek clear legal opinion on this.

Note that, there is no adoption amongst Muslims and inter-religious adoptions can be made only with the express permission of the court. The age difference should also be large enough between you and the child.

3.

Rituals.

Once the eligibility and legality for and of the adoption has been ascertained, you shall have to follow the different prescribed rituals (as per the customs and religious books and heads) for religiously adopting the child. For this you shall have to contact your religious priests.

4.

Adoption Deed.

To give legal sanction to the adoption, and for completing the legal formalities, you shall have to have a proper Deed of Adoption duly drafted and prepared by a competent and skilful lawyer, and then have the same executed by the parents / guardians of the child and yourself and your spouse in the presence of witnesses, where after you shall have to lodge the same for due Registration with the local Sub-Registrar of Assurances where the rituals have taken place.

5.

Change of name

You shall need to have the name (may be just the name of the father and/or surname) of the child changed in the government records to make it legally and morally easy for the rest of the life of the adopted child.

Click here to learn about Changing Names.

BACK

HOME