Voluntary Coordinating
Agencies (VCA)
| About VCA | Structure of VCA | Executive Committee of VCA | Procedure to be followed by VCA |
| Criteria for Recognition | Renewal of Recognition | Withdrawal of Recognition | Finance of VCA |
| Existing VCAs |
7.1
There shall be a centralised agency namely Voluntary Coordinating Agency (VCA) in
the State or even in a
large city where there are several recognised placement and child welfare agencies. The principal functions of VCA shall be as
follows:-
(a)
It shall actively promote Indian adoption and formulate, develop and execute
programmes and activities for generating awareness in this regard;
(b)
It shall ensure that the priority laid down by the Supreme Court on
placement/adoption within the country or with Indian abroad is adhered to. All recognised social/child welfare agencies,
Juvenile Welfare Boards and Government homes within the country, desirous of placing
children in adoption/ placement shall furnish lists of children legally free for adoption
to the concerned VCA and also to CARA;
(c)
It shall maintain a register of all prospective adoptive parents;
(d)
It shall maintain a register of all available children who are legally free for
adoption;
(e)
It shall coordinate the work of all its member agencies and other child welfare
institutions in the field of Indian adoption. Where
Indian adoption is difficult within its area of operation it shall coordinate with other
VCAs in the State and in the country;
(f)
Where Indian placements is not materialised, it shall issue a no objection
certificate within a period of one month from the date of receipt of application for 'No
objection' in the VCAs to the recognised placement agency so as to enable the child to be
placed in inter-country adoption;
(g)
In the case
of a child requiring immediate medical or surgical assistance, the VCA may waive the
stipulated waiting period on production of medical certificate as provided in paragraph
4.24 above and issue a no-objection certificate at the earliest;
(h)
It shall call a meeting of member agencies at least once every quarter;
(i)
In cases where these guidelines are not being followed by any recognised placement
agency, the concerned VCA will bring it to the notice of CARA with substantive evidence
for taking appropriate action.
7.2
The VCA shall be registered under the Societies Registration Act and will comply
with all the rules laid down under the Act and also these guidelines.
7.3
Every VCA shall have, on its staff, at least two professionally trained social
workers.
7.4
Every VCA shall have to seek recognition from CARA by means of an application which
shall be routed through the State Government and the State Government shall offer its
comments on such application within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of such
application and if no such comments are forthcoming within the period of 30 days, it shall
be presumed that the State Government has no objection.
7.5
All the recognised placement agencies (whether doing only in-country and
inter-country adoption) would be entitled to become members of VCA and those child welfare
agencies which are not placing children in adoption but are merely running homes for
children etc. would also be eligible to be members of VCA.
The final decision in case of the later would rest with the executive committee of
the VCA. If any agency is de-recognised by
CARA on account of malpractice of any other valid reason or any child welfare agency
de-licenced by the State Government, then it shall cease to be a member of VCA and it
shall not be eligible for membership of VCA unless it is once again recognised or
licensed.
7.6
The recognised placement agencies would have the right to vote for electing the
executive committee of the VCA. The child
welfare agencies would not enjoy any voting right. The
VCA should be an independent registered body with a democratic structure. The Chairman should not be connected with either
in-country or intercountry placements.
7.7
There shall be an executive committee for managing the day-to-day affairs of VCA. The executive committee shall consist of not less
than 3 members and not more than one-third the number of members of the VCA.
7.8
The executive committee of VCA shall comprise:
(a)
The Chairman of VCA.
(b) A representative of the State Government of the
level of the Deputy Director (Welfare)/ Social Welfare or above.
(c)
One Senior representative of each scrutinising agency working in the jurisdiction
of the concerned VCA.
(d)
One representative from the agencies exclusively doing Indian adoption.
(e)
There representatives of the recognised placement agencies out of these at least
two shall be from those placement agencies which have placed at least 50 per cent children
within the country during last three years to be elected by the recognised placement
agencies which are members of VCA. The terms
of office of the members of the executive committee of items (c) and (d) shall be two
years and they shall not be eligible for re-appointment for the next succeeding period of
2 years.
The executive committee of VCA may
appoint staff to carry out the day-to-day functions of the VCA. Such paid staff would be accountable to the
executive committee.
7.9
The no-objection certificate issued by the VCA would be signed and issued by two
persons-the Chairperson and Member Secretary, both of whom will not be connected with
adoption activities whether in-country or inter-country.
No recognised placement agency shall process the application for inter-country
adoption before obtaining the no-objection certificate save in the case of exceptional
and/or exempted categories referred to above at these guidelines.
The following are the
broad procedure to be followed by the VCA
7.10(a) All member agencies must submit
a list of children and prospective adoptive parents on a monthly basis to the VCA.
(b)
When an agency wishes to place a child in foreign adoption it must check with the
VCA to ascertain whether there is any Indian parent willing to take the child in adoption.
(c) The period of 30 days provided for in the Supreme Court Judgment for trying to place a child with Indian parents has been found to be inadequate and this should be extended to to 30 days from the date when VCA assistance is sought to.
(d)
The time-frame for VCA to find a placement in India will be 30 days as provided in
clause (c) above and only after that, an. inter-country placement may be processed.
(e)
If there is difference between the placement agency and VCA in regard to the
clearance of a child for inter-country adoption, the placement agency concerned may refer
the cases to CARA. In such cases, CARA will
decide whether to give the clearance of the child or not.
The decision of CARA shall be final.
7. 11
In order to be recognised as VCA, an agency must fulfil the following criteria:-
(i)
It should be a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
(ii) The agency must be recommended by
the State Government concerned for recognition by CARA.
(iii) The
agency should run on a non-commercial and non-profitable basis.
(iv) Its
office-bearers at item (d) and (e) in paragraph 7.8 shall be from recognised placement
agencies which have given children in in-country adoption to the extent of 50% or more of
the total number of children given in the adoption in a year after excluding handicapped
children, siblings and children above 6 years of age.
(v)
All the office-bearers should be Indian nationals.
The initial recognition of VCA shall be for a period of 3 years.
7.12
A VCA which seeks renewal of recognition should apply to CARA through the State
Government for renewal of recognition six months prior to the date of expiry of the
previous recognition. The following would be
the main criteria for renewal of recognition.
(i)
Satisfactory performance in the promotion of in-country adoptions.
(ii) Timely
submission of reports and returns as may be specified by CARA,
7.13
Recognition of a VCA may be withdrawn by CARA on receipt of a report from the State
Government regarding unsatisfactory performance, after giving the VCA an opportunity to
explain its position. The VCAs should play
positive role in bringing greater coordination among all the placement agencies working in
the area of their operation. Any malpractice,
if proved, would immediately invite action in the shape of de-recognition. Delay and non-compliance in the submission of
reports/returns asked for by the State Government or CARA may also be a ground for
withdrawal of recognition.
7.14
VCA should conduct the quarterly meetings attended by all the members entitled and
eligible to attend the meetings and discuss all matters relating to adoption. The minutes of, the meetings should be sent to
CARA by the concerned VCA.
7.15
The Government of India in the Ministry of Welfare would give grant-in-aid to VCA
upto 90% of the cost as per prescribed norms.
7.16
The existing VCAs shall stand superseded as soon as VCAs are constituted in
accordance with these guidelines for the area of operation of the existing VCAS.
7.17
If in any area there is only one recognised placement agency, it shall be entitled
to become a member of VCA operating in the most adjacent area.