Adopting a Child in India: A Practical Guide to the CARA Process Under the JJ Act

By S&S Co. Advocates & Solicitors · Published 15 September 2026 · Informational content, not legal advice — see our disclaimer

Two Routes Into Adoption

Adoption in India runs through two distinct legal routes, and prospective parents sometimes conflate them. The first is the statutory route under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, as amended, and the Adoption Regulations, 2022 notified by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) — this is the route that applies to adopting a child in need of care and protection, whether the parents share a religion with the child or not, and it is mandatory for adopting a child through the child-care institution system. The second is adoption under personal law, most commonly the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, available to Hindus (a term that, for this Act, includes Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs) adopting a child who is also Hindu, typically where the child is known to the family rather than coming through an institution. This guide focuses on the CARA/JJ Act route, which is the one almost every prospective parent adopting an unrelated child will need to navigate.

Who Can Adopt

Eligibility criteria for prospective adoptive parents are set out in Section 57 of the JJ Act, 2015 and elaborated in Regulation 5 of the Adoption Regulations, 2022. In broad terms, a prospective adoptive parent must be physically fit, financially stable, mentally sound and demonstrably motivated to adopt. A married couple must generally have a period of stable marriage — CARA guidance has commonly required at least two years of marriage — and the couple's combined (composite) age is subject to an upper limit under CARA's guidelines, commonly cited at 110 years, though the applicable age criteria for both the child's age band and the parents differ depending on the specific child being considered and should be checked against the current CARA regulation in force. A single person, married or unmarried, may also adopt subject to conditions; a single male applicant, in particular, is not eligible to adopt a girl child under current regulations. Consent and eligibility of the child concerned — whether surrendered, abandoned or orphaned, and subject to being declared legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee — is a separate, equally important part of the process.

The CARA / CARINGS Process in Outline

The process for adopting an unrelated child begins with registration on CARA's online portal (CARINGS — Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System), where the prospective adoptive parents create a profile and upload the documents CARA and the Adoption Regulations require, including identity, income, medical fitness and marital-status proof. Registration is typically followed by a Home Study Report — an assessment, generally carried out by a professional social worker attached to a Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA), of the family's home environment, financial stability and readiness to adopt. Once registered and cleared, the prospective parents are placed in a queue (seniority list) to be matched with a child who is legally free for adoption; the matching itself, and the sequencing of the process from referral through a pre-adoption foster period to the final adoption order, is managed through the CARINGS system in coordination with the concerned SAA.

A meaningful reform took effect from 1 September 2022: adoption orders are now issued by the jurisdictional District Magistrate (or an Additional District Magistrate specifically authorised for the purpose) rather than by a civil court, as was previously the position. The stated purpose of this change was to speed up disposal of adoption matters and increase administrative accountability for timelines. Once the District Magistrate passes the adoption order, the adoptive parents are entitled to a Certificate of Adoption confirming the child's status and the parent-child relationship for all legal purposes going forward.

NRI, OCI and Foreign Adoptions

The Adoption Regulations, 2022 also set out dedicated procedures for Non-Resident Indian (NRI), Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) and foreign prospective adoptive parents wishing to adopt a child from India. These cases are generally still routed through CARA and the CARINGS system, but for parents resident abroad, the process typically involves an Authorised Foreign Adoption Agency (AFAA) or a body performing an equivalent function in the parents' country of residence, along with additional documentation — home study reports prepared to that country's standards, immigration clearances, and post-adoption follow-up reporting requirements that can extend for a period after the child travels to the new country. Because these requirements vary by the receiving country and are periodically updated, NRI and foreign prospective parents should confirm the current specific requirements with CARA and, where relevant, their country's central adoption authority before beginning the process.

What Adoption Is Not a Substitute For

It is worth being precise about what falls inside and outside the JJ Act/CARA adoption framework. Informal, undocumented arrangements where a child is simply taken in and raised by a family without going through CARA and the District Magistrate's order do not confer the legal status of an adopted child — inheritance rights, the parent-child legal relationship, and related protections generally depend on a properly completed, legally recognised adoption. Similarly, guardianship under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 — which is sometimes used, for instance, by a relative caring for a child — is legally distinct from adoption: a guardian has custodial and decision-making responsibility for a minor but does not become the child's legal parent in the way an adoption order confers. Families exploring either route should be clear, from the outset, about which legal relationship they actually intend to create.

Practical Points Worth Keeping in Mind

Begin the paperwork early and keep every document — income proof, medical certificates, marriage certificate, identity documents — current and consistent, since mismatches or expired documents are a common source of delay in the CARA process. Engage constructively and promptly with the Specialised Adoption Agency assigned to conduct the Home Study, since that report is central to how quickly a match can proceed. And because both the eligibility criteria and the procedural timelines under the Adoption Regulations are revised periodically by CARA, prospective parents should treat any specific figure — an age limit, a waiting-period estimate, a document list — as a starting point to verify against CARA's current, notified regulations rather than a fixed rule that never changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

References & Further Reading

This article describes the CARA adoption framework in general terms. Eligibility criteria, forms and timelines are set by CARA's own regulations and are revised from time to time — readers should verify the current position on CARA's website before relying on a specific figure.

1. Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, as amended, Sections 56–58 and Section 61 — adoption framework and District Magistrate's adoption order.
2. Adoption Regulations, 2022, notified by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) under the JJ Act, 2015.
3. Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 — personal-law route for adoption among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.
4. Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 — a legally distinct guardianship framework, not to be confused with adoption.