NEW DELHI: Amid challenges ranging from nearly 26,000 people waiting to adopt kids to only a limited number of children available in the most-sought-after 0-2 age group with adoption agencies, as many as 5,022 children were adopted between April 2025 and March 2026 – the highest in over a decade – as per data shared by Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) since 2015-16.According to CARA, as many as 4,603 children were adopted domestically and inter-country adoptions accounted for 419 children.The number of children adopted in 2024-25 stood at 4,515. Of all the children who are declared free for adoption and available in the adoption pool of Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAAs) across India, 80% are in the special needs category.

392 special needs kids adopted last year, increase of 25% over 2024-25

In 2015-16, according to the CARA data, the total figure stood at 3,677, and breached the 4,000 mark in 2018-19 for the first time.

It fell during the pandemic, before rising again in 2023-24 to cross 4,000 again.While very young children who come into the pool are immediately adopted by prospective adoptive parents (PAPs), the number of older and special needs children keeps adding up as they remain in the pool. The average waiting time for adoption is estimated to be about three years for infants and young children.Amid these challenges, CARA CEO Bhavna Saxena attributes the increase in adoptions to a focused strategy on following up with specialised adoption agencies and child welfare committees through CARA’s ‘identification cell’ to ensure that eligible children in the institutions are declared free for adoption without delays.According to the CARA database, of the 5,022 adoptions, 2,756 were of girls, 2,263 of boys and three were in the ‘others’ category. According to officials, the adoption of girls saw an increase of 8% over 2024-25 when 2,554 girls were adopted. That more girls figure on the adoption list compared to boys is in keeping with past trends.Officials point out that while many more prospective parents opting for the girl child reflects a change in mindset, there is also a view among organisations working on adoptions that the higher numbers have to do with the fact that more girls end up in adoption agencies and orphanages and are, therefore, available in the adoption pool.According to the CARA CEO, there is greater focus now on building awareness about special needs children so that parents who appear keen can be counselled and assisted to go for a special needs child.“We started the process of holding regional consultations last year and found that parents were getting encouraged to consider children with special needs. We will be strengthening the outreach this year,” Saxena further added.She said 392 special needs children were adopted last year, marking an increase of around 25% over 2024-25, when the number was 313. Also, adoptions by relatives and step-parents went up by 50%, from 820 to 1,231.Saxena said that to strengthen the system, 118 new child welfare committees were constituted and 52 new specialised agencies registered over past one year. As many as 266 new SAAs have been registered and activated since July 2024.