Harmonising Adoption Laws in India: Need for Uniform Civil Code

The multiplicity of personal laws governing adoption in India. The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA) for Hindus and related communities, Guardianship and Wards Act,
for guardianship (not full adoption) for other communities, and the secular Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (JJ Act) framework—results in inconsistency in
adoption procedures, rights, eligibility, and effects. These legal inconsistencies give rise to legal loopholes and disadvantages for marginalised or non-conventional categories: e.g., persons of different religions, singles, those in live in relationships, LGBTQ+ persons, NRIs, children from certain backgrounds. The differential treatment may create unequal access to adoption and entail additional procedural difficulties. The process of adoption itself is sometimes delayed and/or complex in nature, often with multiple agency involvement, procedural steps, home studies, approvals, legal clearances, and coordination between inter-state agencies. These delays could result in the children spending more time in institutional care. Because the adoption law is intrinsically linked with the personal law and not a uniform civil law, there is a lack of standardization, equality, and predictability. This has raised several questions over whether instituting a Uniform Civil Code for adoption and, on a wider scale for personal law matters would better achieve the constitutional ideal of equality and guarantee of rights as well as for the children and adoptive parents alike. While Article 44 constitutionally mandates a Uniform Civil Code; its realization is complex and debated.Therefore, the principal problem is how India can move from a fragmented, religion-based legal adoption regime to a harmonized, child-centric, uniformly applicable adoption law that ensures clarity, fairness, efficiency, and respects constitutional values. This study intends to find an answer through an examination of the current adoption laws, analysis of the role of
CARA, and the assessment of the need and feasibility for a UCC on adoption.