Model Foster Care Guidelines, 2024

Reference

Recently, the Model Foster Care Guidelines of 2016 have been amended by the government to suit the changing social circumstances.

About the Foster System

• The foster system is an arrangement in which a child temporarily lives with either the extended family (kin) or unrelated individuals (adoptive parents).
• According to data from the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), as of March 2024, 1,653 children were in foster care in states and union territories other than Goa, Haryana and Lakshadweep.

Key conditions for fostering children in India

• The children should be above six years of age.
• They should be living in child care institutions.
• They should have ‘unfit guardians’.
• Children who are categorised as ‘hard to place or children having special needs’ can also be given for fostering.

Model Foster Care Guidelines 2024

• The Model Foster Care Guidelines of 2016 have been revised by the MoWCD in accordance with the changes in the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2021 and the Juvenile Justice (Child Care and Protection) Model Rules, 2022.

Key amendments

Single individuals allowed to foster

• The revised Model Foster Care Guidelines now allow single individuals aged 35 to 60 who are unmarried, widowed, divorced or legally separated to foster a child and eventually adopt it after two years (earlier the limit was 5 years), eliminating the rule that limited foster care to married couples.
• However, while a single woman can foster and eventually adopt a child of either gender, a single man can do so only for male children.
• Earlier under the 2016 Model Foster Care Guidelines, only married couples (and not single individuals), referred to as ‘both spouses’ in the old documents, were allowed to foster a child.

Stable marital relationship mandatory

As per the new guidelines, in case of married couples who wish to foster, 'no child shall be given to the couple/husband/wife for foster care' unless they have had a 'stable marital relationship for two years'. Earlier, there was no such condition for couples.

Age of foster parent

• The 2016 guidelines stated that both spouses should be above 35 years of age.
• The revised guidelines are more specific, with the ‘overall age of married couples’ being a minimum of 70 years for fostering a child in the age group of 6 to 12 years and 12 to 18 years, while single foster parents should be a minimum of 35 years of age.
• It also specifies the maximum age for prospective foster parents, up to 55 years for a single person to foster a child in the age group of 6 to 12 and up to 60 years for fostering a child in the age group of 12 to 18.

Provision of online portal

• The Fostering Guidelines 2024 have provided for a designated online portal.
• Foster parents can now register online through a platform called Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS) and prospective foster parents can upload their documents so that the district child protection units can access them.