Bal Jagat is an accredited agency licensed by the Government of India (CARA). India has signed the Hague Convention Treaty. India is our charter program and very special to us. Agency staff speaks 7 Indian languages to assist clients with their adoption. Children can be adopted from infancy through 15 years. All of the children come from orphanages from various parts of the country. Orphanage care is excellent! They have a high caregiver to child ratio, with three to five children per caregiver. There are no private adoptions in India. 

Adoptive parents’ total age should not be more than 90 years to adopt an infant. Each case is reviewed differently in each state of India. Usually Hindu families complete the adoption abroad. Guardianship is given to Non-Hindu couples. Older parents may adopt older children. Adoptive parents must be married for a minimum of five years. Only one divorce is acceptable. There may be one child already in the home. Larger families may not be considered. India has many requirements for adoptive parents because they really care for their children. 

All children are given medical attention in the orphanage. Once your home study is approved, it will be sent by our agency to India. An Indian orphanage will select a child and send us a picture and background history. This process takes several months because there are several committees in India, such as VCA, CARA, and a Scrutinizing Committee. All cases are considered on an individual basis by these committees. Therefore this process is a little lengthier than with other countries. In order to protect the children and serve the best interest of the child, the Indian government has strict adoption guidelines for international adoptions. 

If your child arrived on a guardianship basis, you must re-adopt therefore the child in the US upon arrival. You do not need to hire an attorney for this process. The Indian Government and Indian orphanages also require progress reports about the adopted child with several photographs for a period of two years. 

Parents are required to make a trip to India lasting two weeks to meet and then accompany their child into the United States. The entire process of adoption will take fourteen to sixteen months due to the strict system.

Please visit CARA's web site at http://www.adoptionindia.nic.in

For more information about our India program please contact us.

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