The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) informed the Parliament that as many as 1,614 children with special needs have been adopted in the country in the past five years.
Smriti Irani, the WCD Minister, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha said that as per the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS), an online portal of the Central Adoption Resource Authority, 1,614 children with special needs had been placed in-country and inter-country adoptions during the past five years.
According to the data given by Irani, in the financial year 2019-20 till March 3, 160 children with special needs were adopted, while 402 such adoptions were seen in the previous fiscal.
In 2017-18, 391 children with special needs were adopted, while 291 adoptions were were seen in 2016-17, the written reply read.