An article from Hindustan Times highlights the many struggles disabled people in India face when trying to adopt children.
The law does support adoption by disabled people, but bias and misunderstanding make the process difficult.
Padmatharani’s Story
KS Padmatharani, a 37-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, wanted to adopt a child with her husband, KS Ramesh.
She uses a motorized wheelchair, while her husband does not have a disability.
They faced many obstacles because of her condition, including a social worker who judged her unfit to be a parent.
The worker did not look at their ability to care for a child, only at her disability.
Padmatharani filed a complaint with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), which allowed a second review.
After this second review, she was finally able to adopt a baby boy.
More Cases of Discrimination
Other couples also experienced discrimination.
For example, P Baby and S Velmayil from Tamil Nadu were told they were unfit due to their locomotor disabilities.
After activists got involved, their case was reviewed, and they adopted a child.
Another woman, A Bhagyam, was initially rejected by a magistrate, even with positive assessments and a fitness certificate.
She eventually won the case by proving her ability to care for a child.
The Root Cause of the Problem
Experts say this discrimination happens because social workers and medical officers don’t fully understand disability.
The adoption guidelines don’t clearly explain how to evaluate disabled parents, leading to delays, rejections, and frustration for families.
Advocates are calling for clear guidelines and more training for adoption officials.
A Need for Change
Activists believe that everyone involved in the adoption process needs better training.
They also suggest having clear standards to evaluate disabled parents.
This would help make sure they are treated fairly and given an equal chance to adopt.
The Hindustan Times article noted that, without such changes, only a few disabled people in Tamil Nadu were able to adopt in the past two years compared to hundreds of non-disabled people.
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