Kolkata: Bengal has one of the highest rates of child adoption in the country but couples continue to be reluctant to adopt children who are six years or older.
State Adoption Resource Agency (West Bengal) governing body member Bipasha Roy said the primary reason why the queue of prospective adoptive parents was always long was because of their reluctance to adopt children above five years.
"The reasons behind demand for children, preferably below 2 years, is primarily because parents want the children to grow up the way they want without any recollection of the past. Parents want children who are like a clean slate and can be moulded into the way they want. Not only do they think integration into the family will be easier, there are also societal prejudices involved," said Roy
Functionaries of Atmaja, an association for adoptive parents that was formed 25 years ago to share their experiences with couples seeking to adopt, is now focusing on ways to explain to prospective adoptive parents the advantages of taking in an older child.
"Couples usually go for adoption when they have spent 10 years trying to have a child. That means they are already in their late 30s or early 40s. If they were to adopt a six-seven year-old child, it could happen in a matter of days as there are many children of that age waiting for adoption. Also, the age gap between the parents and the child would be less," explained former Jadavpur University professor and adoptive parent Nilanjana Gupta, the founder chairperson of Atmaja.
"We also tell couples seeking to adopt that one of the major dilemmas that parents face over when and how to disclose to the children that they are adopted is not there in the case of older children as they already know they are being adopted," said Anup Dewanji, a retired professor at ISI and an adoptive parent who is now the chairman of Atmaja.
Saumeta Medhor of adoption agency The Indian Society for Sponsorship & Adoption, says the biggest challenge is couples wanting to adopt a child who is a clean slate with no memories. "Only 1% of couples look for an older child and they do so because they are ineligible for someone younger," she said.