Central Adoption Resource Authority Guidelines

Show this topic for:

Why in news

  • Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) held a regional consultative workshop in Pune emphasizing non-institutionalized care for children with special needs.

What is CARA?

  • Statutory autonomous body under the Ministry of Women and Child Development designated as the central authority for adoption.
  • Functions under the regulatory framework of the **Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)** Act, 2015.

Key focus areas

  • Prioritizes family-based adoption and foster care over long-term institutionalized care for Divyang (special needs) children.
  • Strengthens coordination between CARA, State Adoption Resource Agencies (SARA), and Child Welfare Committees (CWCs).

Why it matters

  • Addresses system-level delays in legal matching and special care support to increase low adoption rates among special needs children.

Key terms

CARA

The apex statutory body regulating in-country and inter-country adoption procedures in India.

SARA

State Adoption Resource Agency established to oversee adoption and child rehabilitation at the State level.

Prelims facts

  • CARA operates as a statutory body under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.

Mains discussion

  • Evaluate the measures required to strengthen non-institutionalized child protection and adoption infrastructure for special needs children in India.

Source: PIB

Same topic · past papers

UPSC has asked this before

These previous-year questions sit on the same topic. Open one to practise the earlier ask.

  1. 2023 · Q15 · GS III · 15 marks

    The adoption of electric vehicles is rapidly growing worldwide. How do electric vehicles contribute to reducing carbon emissions and what are the key benefits they offer compared to traditional combustion engine vehicles?

    View answer →

  2. 2021 · Q16 · General Studies · 2 marks

    R2 Code of Practices' constitutes a tool available for promoting the adoption of

    View answer →

  3. 2025 · Q6 · General Studies · 2 marks

    Consider the following statements: I. India has joined the Minerals Security Partnership as a member. II. India is a resource-rich country in all the 30 critical minerals that it has identified. III. The Parliament in 2023 has amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 empowering the Central Government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite license for certain critical minerals. Which of the statements given above are correct?

    View answer →

  4. 2025 · Q79 · General Studies · 2 marks

    Consider the following pairs : Country Resource-rich in I. Botswana : Diamond II. Chile : Lithium III. Indonesia : Nickel In how many of the above rows is the given information correctly matched?

    View answer →

  5. 2023 · Q6 · GS II · 10 marks

    The crucial aspect of development process has been the inadequate attention paid to Human Resource Development in India. Suggest measures that can address this adequacy.

    View answer →

← All Mains notes for 4 September 2026

PDF