STATE ADOPTION RESOURCE AGENCY - MAHARASHTRA

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• STATE ADOPTION RESOURCE AGENCY - MAHARASHTRA

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SARA (Maharashtra)

• SARA in Maharashtra state started functioning in
  the month of July, 2012
• SARA functions as the agency to promote
  in-country adoption and regulate inter-country
  adoption.

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Present Status in Maharashtra

• STATUS OF FOSTER CARE
• No of children in various types of Foster Care
• Kinship Foster Care- 12792
• Foster Care outside the family-1823

GIRLS BOYS TOTAL
6645 7970 14615
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• STATUS OF SPONSORSHIP
• MSCPS is collaborating with Tata Memorial
  Hospital and other allied hospitals with their
  Childrens Palliative Care Project and would be
  linking all the children with life limiting
  conditions to Sponsorship.

GIRLS BOYS TOTAL
913 551 1464
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Categories of children for sponsorship-

• Children with life limiting conditions (for e.g.
  cerebral palsy, Thalassemia etc.)
• Children who are suffering from cancer, HIV etc.
• Malnourished Children
• Children with physical disabilities
• Children with mental disabilities
• Children with psychological disabilities
• Children with sensory impairments
• Children with learning disabilities, autism etc
• Children in need assistive devices and aids (for
  e.g. Hearing aids, spectacles, wheel chairs,
  crutches etc.)
• Destitute children (institutional/non
  institutional)
• Runaway children
• Children forced into child marriage
• Children forced into child labor
• Trafficked children
• Begging children
• Children in need of educational, vocational etc.
  support belonging to low socio economic
  background
• Children in foster care/ adoption
• Riot affected children

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• STATUS OF ADOPTION

TOTAL NO. OF SAAs 65
TOTAL CAPACITY 2390
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lt6YRS gt6 YRS TOTAL (GIRLS) lt6 YRS gt6 YRS TOTAL (BOYS) TOTAL (BOYS GIRLS)
TOTAL NO. OF CHILDREN 370 171 541 279 152 426 972
Adopted in-country 35 1 36 44 1 45 81
Adopted inter-country 10 0 10 4 6 10 20
Pre-adoption Foster Care 36 8 44 35 6 41 85
Foster Care 22 8 30 14 2 16 46
Transferred to children home 4 14 18 2 4 6 24
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HEALTH STATUS GIRLS BOYS TOTAL
Mentally Challenged 38 58 97
Physically Challenged 67 46 113
Other Categories 82 74 156
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SIBLING INFORMATION
No. of children with 1 sibling 16
No. of children with 2 siblings 5
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Average length of stay Girls Boys Total
Upto 6 months 207 148 355
6-12 months 107 82 189
13-18 months 88 67 155
19-24 months 37 50 87
More than 2 years 130 103 233
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ADOPTION STATUS OF CHILDREN IN SAA s Girls Boys Total
Children in the process of being declared legally free 257 177 434
Children declared legally free for adoption 175 158 333
Children matched with PAPs 55 43 98
Children in pre-adoptive foster care 82 63 145
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Status of Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs)
No. of registered PAPs on first day of the quarter 1317
No. of PAPs registered during the last quarter 246
No. of PAPs matched during the last quarter 136
No. of PAPs rejected during the lastquarter reported upon 76
No. of PAPs having children in pre-adoptive foster care 200
No. of PAPs waiting for children as on last day of quarter 1275
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SARA

• Programmatic Financial Assessment of SAAs
• - SARA has done programmatic and financial
  assessment of 17 SAAs which are funded by MSCPS.
• It was observed that out of 17, 4 agencies were
  not working as per the CARA guidelines and JJ
  Act, therefore Project Sanctioning Committees
  (PSCs) of ICPS cancelled their recognitions.

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FACTS OBSERVED DURING THE ASSESSMENT

• Cleanliness and Hygiene was not maintained
• Rooms, toilets and even the kitchen were not
  clean and were in bad conditions
• Poor hygiene resulted in bed sores and injuries
  to the children
• Health of the children were compromised and
  neglected proper medical care was not being
  provided
• Minimum standards of care of children mentioned
  in CARA Guidelines were not maintained.
• The SAAs were not maintaining proper records as
  per the CARA guidelines and also they had taken
  unwed mothers signatures on blank stamp papers.
• SAAs were also engaged in misguiding the families
  

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• Coordination with SAAs ARC
• To discuss issues and concerns with respect to
  in-country and inter-country adoption in the
  state.
• SARA will conduct quarterly meetings with all
  SAAs/RIPAs to discuss adoption related issues
• With respect to pending cases SARA will persuade
  with the ARC to have at least 3 meeting in a
  month to clear the cases on time.

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Plan of action

• Quarterly meeting with SAAs/RIPAs
• Training on Track Child to all the SAAs /RIPAs
• State level consultation on Adoption, Foster care
  and Sponsorship
• Preparation of comprehensive Adoption, foster
  care and sponsorship plan for the state
• Programmatic and financial Assessment of all the
  SAAs