Over 2,000 children died in specialised adoption agencies since 2014: Govt

Over 2,000 children have died in specialised adoption agencies since 2014, the Ministry of Women and Child Development said on Friday.

Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani shared the data as per which 27,085 children have been adopted since 2014.

According to the data, as many as 287 children died in specialised adoption agencies in 2014-15, 289 in 2015-16, 281 in 2016-17, 321 in 2017-18, 253 in 2018-19, 282 in 2019-20, 182 in 2020-21 and 132 in 2021-22.

Irani, in a written response, also said that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has developed an application namely Monitoring App for Seamless Inspection (MASI) for real-time monitoring of the Child Care Institutions (CCIs) and their inspection mechanism across the country.

MASI enables unified inspections by Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), State Inspection Committees, District Inspection Committees, Members of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) as laid down under the JJ Act, 2015.

As per the government data, 88 Specialised Adoption Agencies (SAAs) have been inspected by the concerned state and district authorities mandated under JJ Act, 2015, since the inception of the portal from January 21, 2021.