BSSK was established in 1979 and has
since then been working in the field of Family and
Child Welfare.
Our objective is put forth
in our mission statement –
- To safeguard the right of every child to a secure, loving family.
- To strengthen existing family structures with counseling, health care, nutrition,
education and economic aid.
- To support every effort, big and small, that tilts the scale towards empathy
and love between parents and children in an often-unfriendly world.
BSSK placed its first child in adoption in
1981 and has so far placed 2738
children (as of March 2006).
The Head
Office is in Pune, India. We also have Branches at
Aurangabad, Sangli and Chiplun.
There
are many ways in which you can help. You can visit “How
can you help?” and
also see the list
of sample items for donation that BSSK regularly requires. Please
contact BSSK regarding the
specific items you would like to donate.
For Volunteers (above
18 years only) please contact us by email. Please mention your interest and
how you can help.
For
adoption cases please fill the application form. You can print the
form available on the website, fill it up, and then scan and send it to us as
a minimum file size JPG file. Alternatively, the same
form can also be filled up using Acrobat. If you would
like to meet other adoptive parents, if you inform
us of your location we can
refer a couple of families'
addresses for you to initiate contact.
Yes.
BSSK’s newsletter is called ‘Anubandh’.
We publish about 2 issues
every year. Please inform us by e-mail regards
your interest in receiving our newsletter
and we can add your name to our
mailing list. Please send us
your email id and your permanent address, if you would like the physical copy
to be posted to you. To receive Anubandh by post, the cost is
Rs. 100/- per
year, payable by cheque in the name of BSSK, Pune - Anubandh.
An archive of previous issues of Anubandh is available on the Downloads page.
For domestic adoption cases BSSK works out the expenses for each child, as per the Supreme Court and CARA guidelines.
For Inter Country Adoptions, it is as per CARA guidelines.
You can enquire at Pune or
any of our branches and submit your documents at the same place. If registered
at our branches, your registration
details will be forwarded to the head office at Pune within 2 working
days, as we maintain a centralized consolidated waiting list. To
know about the procedures for families in India go to ‘Adoption
Procedures’.
Presently
the waiting period at Pune, for a girl child is about
8 months and for
a boy it is about 10 months. At
Aurangabad and Sangli, the waiting period
could be about 3 months for a girl and 6 months for a boy.
This period varies with the availability
of children.
If
the male applicant is a Hindu then the adoption can
be done under Hindu
Adoption and Maintenance Act’ 1956 (HAMA). The
wife has to give her
consent when filing the petition
under HAMA.
For
Non-Hindus the legalization of the adoption will be
under the Guardianship and
Wards Act 1890(GAWA)
Under
HAMA you cannot adopt a child of the same sex, hence
you
need to opt for legalizing
the adoption under GAWA. Further, the family
needs to be prepared to execute
a will whereupon the child adopted under
GAWA will inherit property and get
equal share as other child/children in
the family.
After filing the petition-
For In-Country adoptions it
takes between 6 and 8 months.
For NRI families, where child has been placed under pre-adoptive foster care, it takes about 3 months.
For Inter-Country Adoptions
it takes about 4 months
For domestic adoptions please note this period varies from one city to the other ( Pune, Aurangabad, Sangli)
For Inter country adoptions please note this period varies as it depends on the judge handling the case at that particular period.
CARA is the Central Adoption Resource Authority. CARA is based in New Delhi, and it functions as a nodal body and the Central Authority for adoption matters.
It was setup in 1990 and functions under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. CARA aims to facilitate and expedite the rehabilitation of as many orphans and destitute children as possible by way of adoption and foster care.
It
enlists foreign agencies that the agencies in India can
work with. For more information you can visit the CARA web page - www.adoptionindia.nic.in.
CARA has issued new guidelines for In-Country Adoption
in 2004.
For Inter-Country Adoptions (including NRI) the new guidelines are out in April 2006.
CARA’s No Objection Certificate (NOC) is obtained
only for all Inter-Country Adoptions. Only after
receiving CARA NOC can an adoption case be filed in the
Local Courts and then the child can be placed under pre-adoptive
foster care.
Detailed information is available
on the CARA website – www.adoptionindia.nic.in
ICSW has
its social worker assist the courts in scrutinizing
every adoption case filed under HAMA or GAWA for all
In-Country and Inter-Country Adoptions. Only after
ICSW’s say can the adoption case be
heard and passed.
No family can
directly approach BSSK. As per Central Adoption Resource
Agency (CARA), New Delhi, the adoption paperwork
needs to be processed
through an agency abroad that is enlisted by CARA.
The updated list is available on
CARA’S web site - www.adoptionindia.nic.in.
BSSK accepts applications
in USA through Holt International Children’s
Agencies.
You can log on to their web site for more details – www.holtintl.org
From Norway, BSSK accepts applications through Children
of the World,
Norway. You can log on to their web site www.verdensbarn.no
For NRI’s in other
countries, you may fill out the Application Form and
mail it
through your respective agencies abroad. If you are
unaware of such agencies you
could enquire with us and we can guide you accordingly.
BSSK
has children from ranging from newly born to six
years of age. These children are either relinquished
by their biological families or abandoned and are committed
to BSSK. For more information you can click on Child
Care Services.
No. The relinquishment
is done in discretion and with confidentiality.
No. BSSK does not encourage Secret
Adoption as it does not serve the best interests of
the child. We counsel adoptive parents to be open about
their adoption with the child and also with relatives
and friends.
For a routine passport it takes about
3 to 4 weeks to receive a child’s passport in hand.
For an urgent passport it takes about 5 working
days, families must inform us of the same.
No. BSSK is a secular organization
and has no religious affiliations.
We are open to families from any religion wishing to adopt one
of our children.
No. This raises a number of confidentiality issues, while the child's
environment may get disturbed through unnecessary exposure (this could create confusion in a
child's mind). However, BSSK is open to families wanting to gather more information, for
which you can contact your agency (in India and abroad) and have all your queries
addressed.
For Adoptions
in India, reports need to be sent to BSSK with a copy
to ICSW and the Family Court (if applicable). The frequency
is: quarterly (every three months) reports for 2 years
and thereafter half yearly (every six months) reports
for the next 3 years.
For Inter-Country Adoptions (including
NRI), the frequency of reports depends on respective courts. Although CARA mentions reports need to be sent at least for 2 years or until such time as the legal adoption is completed and citizenship is acquired in the receiving country.
BSSK will be maintaining
records for at least 60 years.
Presently we share non-identifying
information with regards to the child’s origin
with the adoptee and their parents.
Before the answer can be given a few clarification questions need to be answered. As a parent can you describe a situation where in your child “seeks attention” or “what she says to others that gets others attention”. That might be the key to handling the situation.
Nevertheless, to get to the source of the behaviour you might want to do some information finding!
Before you label your child as “an attention seeker” we need to figure out what her needs are. Once you are able to address those needs, you will notice the child would not “seek attention”. Some of these needs could be adoption related, while others maybe purely developmental. If adoption were on her mind, then you would need to figure out a way to talk about it. At age, 6 yrs. it could be just a plain reassurance that she will always be your child no matter what. If not adoption related we would need to figure out what is going on in her school or amongst her friends or what she saw on TV or practically anything going on in her life.
Having done that laying limits of behaviour, such as telling her that what you said was embarrassing for me, you could say this to me when we are by ourselves… could help. Children at this age find it hard to distinguish between what is personal and public information! If not then just plain ignoring could work. Usually children of this age are completely aware of how to “press the button” of their parents and other adults and children. They will take you as far as you let them. What they need is consistency and stability… if they have some consistency in rules, children know what to expect and feel secure. This certainly does not mean that there will be no rules broken… but they would be rules “broken” as opposed to not having any rules at all and not know what to expect when.
What we need to remember is that behaviour does not change in a moment…it will take a couple of weeks after you begin to address the concern.
Good wishes and enjoy the challenges of parenting!
Please remember that all children are “biologically” born. The difference is in parenting … some children are parented by their adoptive parents and others by biological parents. Some parents are able to match their expectations with those of their children; others struggle to find the right balance. Overall, it’s a tight rope walk! At any point in time there is little benefit in loading your expectations on the child, they could be too high or too low in comparison with the child’s interests, abilities and capacities. What we need to do is to weigh the benefits of the expectation with the burden it may carry for you and your child (children).
As far as research is concerned, there is no conclusive evidence that “adopted children” perform academically poorer that “biological children”. Adoption per se may not be the reason for poor performance…poor academic performance is usually the tip of the iceberg…there could be a variety of seemingly invisible reasons, yet again, maybe related to adoption or may be not.
Your daughter may be going through normal developmental changes in her body and be concerned about that. Her self-image is developing at this stage. If her concerns are about her adoption, you may need to ask and find out. Children usually have queries about their birth and origins and that maybe bothering her. She may be grieving the loss of not knowing about her birth parents. This concern in no way undermines your relationship with her. It only highlights her need to have someone to speak with facts that are to with her life. Whom else can she turn to other than you! This will be possible if you make it easy for her, by bringing up the topic in subtle ways…during things that you do on a day to day basis…while combing her hair, or preparing food for her. She needs to be reassured that she can speak about this with you.
Even though you may not be “bothered” about her academic performance, she maybe concerned about her performance. As concerned parents, we need to recognize that and help and support her to do ‘her’ best. She may not be interested in academics, or may need a little more attention in some subjects. You may need to figure out if the poor performance in academics it maybe related to other school related activities her classmates, her teacher or just the neighbourhood. Between age 11 and 14 children are beginning to think more maturely, and can be at different levels in their performance. Some are good at Math, some at languages, others find it difficult to read and write.
We may need to provide other experiences for her to raise her self esteem, by giving her opportunities to do what she is really good at….and no one better than you as parents would know her talents and interests it could be sports, gardening, cooking, singing, dancing telling stories, being helpful etc. Try and gather as much information about “what is going on in her life” with out prying. She will figure it out with you!
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