status of orphans?

I have been reading some very good posts here about cast and status and I would really appreciate if any one could also shed some light on the status of orphans in India. I am especially interested in ÒInsidersÕ InformationÓ about how orphans are looked at from the point of view of Indian society. Has it changed in recent years? Do people deal with the concept of orphan in a special way?

Mira Nair has set-up an NGO called "Salaam Balak Trust" which is based in Delhi and takes care of Street Children..it started with taking care of the Children who acted in the film Salaam Bombay

The office of this trust is in Vasant Vihar, Delhi....they would sure have some answers to what Mala has asked. I know someone there will ask and post the reply.

As far as I know:
Adoption rules in India are a Little difficult but Legal Adoption is very much possible and it happens, but I understand that you have to give justifications for adopting in terms of not having your own kids or something...

To a large extent Adoption in India happens within the extended Indian family where no legalities are undertaken and the child just starts living with the closest of the relatives.


Ashish

here is a link which lists the guidelines for Adoption

http://www.cara.nic.in/revisedguidelines.htm

you will find around 20 documents required...little difficult to understand why such complications...

I have mailed to my friend in SBT to get the answers to Open_air's questions

Ashish

Thanks for the link Ashish0608.
very interesting to see the list of requierments for a foreign family to adopt an Indian child.
I wonder what they understand under a child though? I couldn't find the age limit.
Looking forward to the SBT reply.

open air

the list of documents require a marriage certificate... is it possible for a single person to adopt a child?

also, does the child remain Indian citizen? in this case, would (adopted) parents be able to claim indian citizenship based on the citizenship of their close relative (child)?

I met someone a couple of years ago here in Japan, a young American woman who told me a very heart warming story. She knew that she would never get married, but wanted to have a child. She adopted a baby from India. Then a couple of years later she decided that her baby should have a little brother or sister. She contacted the agency again and learned that there were no babies available at the moment, but three children--whose father murdered their mother--desperately needed a home. She said "fine" and she adopted all three of them...the oldest, if I remember correctly, was about 12, and the youngest about 5. She brought them to Japan--they spoke neither English nor Japanese. She put them in Japanese school and from what I understood they were all adapting to their lives together quite nicely.
I'll never forget this woman, though I never met her again. Her love was so immense--quite amazing for someone still under thirty years old--and the mother of four children...all adopted from India.

Sorry, I can't give any details about what agency, etc. that she used. I just met her briefly at a funeral for a mutual friend.