Why in News?

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) recently released revised Model Foster Care Guidelines 2024.

This has now permitted single individuals to foster a child and adopt after two years, doing away with the rule that limited foster care to married couples.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• What is Foster Care?
• Model Guidelines for Foster Care 2016
• Need to Revise the Foster Care Guidelines 2016
• Key Changes Introduced by the Revised Guidelines for Foster Care
• Implications of the Revised Guidelines for Foster Care

What is Foster Care?

• Fostering is an arrangement in which a child temporarily lives with either extended family or unrelated individuals.
• In India, children who can be fostered have to be above the age of six years living in child care institutions and having “unfit guardians”.
• Minors who are placed in the category of “hard to place/ children having special needs” can also be fostered.

Model Guidelines for Foster Care 2016:

• These guidelines (brought by the MWCD) detail the procedures, roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, along with various aspects related to the implementation of the foster care program in the districts.
• Under the guidelines, children in the age group of 6-18 years,
  • Whose parents are unable to take care of them due to reasons such as mental illness, poverty or imprisonment and
  • Those staying in child care institutions will be placed in foster care.
• Children in the age group 0-6 years will not prefer to be considered for placement in foster care as such small children will be encouraged for adoption under the Regulations Governing Adoption of Children, 2017.

Need to Revise the Foster Care Guidelines 2016:

• The guidelines have been revised in accordance with the amendment to -
  • The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2021 and
  • The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Model Rules 2022.
• The change in guidelines was needed since single individuals were allowed to adopt children, but were not allowed to foster (as per the earlier guidelines).

Key Changes Introduced by the Revised Guidelines for Foster Care:

• Opening up fostering to any person:
  • Irrespective of their marital status (single/ unmarried/ widow/ divorcee/ legally separated) and whether or not they “have biological son or daughter”.
  • However, while a single woman can foster and eventually adopt a child of any gender, a man can only do so for male children.
• Allows the foster parent to adopt a child: After s/he has been in foster care for a minimum of two years, as opposed to five years earlier.
• Guidelines for married couples who want to foster: No child shall be given in foster care to a couple/spouse unless they have had a stable marital relationship of two years.
  • Earlier, there was no such caveat for couples.
• Age of the foster parents:
  • 
  • While the 2016 guidelines stated that both spouses must be above the age of 35, the revised guidelines are more specific.
• Registration of the foster parents: The foster parents can now register online through a platform - Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS), which is already being used by prospective adoptive parents for registration.

Implications of the Revised Guidelines for Foster Care:

• The changes might encourage more people to apply for foster care.
  • According to data with the MWCD, there were 1,653 children (as of March, 2024) in foster care in States and UTs, excluding Goa, Haryana, and Lakshadweep.
• It will give more clarity to people who are accepting a child for foster care that foster care is intended to be temporary care for a child (till the biological family is found to be capable for the child to go back to them).
• The changes might encourage more people to apply for child adoption.
  • Between Sept 2022 (when the Model Rules were notified) and July 2024, a total of 23 children in foster care were adopted by the families after two years of care.