Who can Give a Child in Adoption?

Under the non-religious law on adoption,¹ you cannot give up your child for adoption, but as a parent or a guardian you have the option to surrender your child.² Surrendering means you give up your child for physical, emotional or social factors beyond your control.This would end your legal relationship with the child and you will not have to bear the responsibilities and privileges that are borne out of that relation once the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) acknowledges that you have surrendered the child.³ Thereafter, the CWC will decide what to do with the surrendered child, and may declare him/her as legally free for adoption. 

Under the Hindu law on adoption,⁴ the following persons⁵ may give up a child in adoption:

• The biological mother or father of the child, as long as the person wishing to give a child for adoption has the consent of the other biological parent. For example, if you, as the biological mother of Rama wants to give her up for adoption, you must have Rama’s biological father’s consent. This does not apply if the other parent is of unsound mind or has renounced the world or is no longer a Hindu.
• A guardian caring for a child may give him/her up for adoption under certain conditions, with the Court’s permission. 

1. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015[↩]
2. Section 35(1), Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015[↩]
3. Schedule I, Adoption Regulations, 2017[↩]
4. Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956[↩]
5. Section 9, Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956[↩]