Adoption in Hyderabad and Telangana: Legal Routes, Eligibility and Procedure

This guide is for couples and single persons in Hyderabad and Telangana who want to adopt a child, including a relative’s child or a step-child, for NRIs and OCI cardholders, and for families who have taken in a child informally and want to know where they stand. It explains the two legal routes, the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 with the Adoption Regulations, 2022, who can adopt, the procedure, the effect of an adoption, and the offences connected with adopting outside the law.

The two routes · Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act · Juvenile Justice Act · Who can adopt · The CARA procedure · Relative and step-parent adoption · NRIs and inter-country adoption · Adopting outside the law · Checklist

The two routes

• Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956: applies to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, and to “any other person who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion”, unless it is proved that person would not have been governed by Hindu law (section 2(1)). “No adoption shall be made … by or to a Hindu except in accordance with” its provisions (section 5(1)).
• Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015: adoption under it “shall be resorted to for ensuring right to family for the orphan, abandoned and surrendered children” (section 56(1)). Indian prospective adoptive parents living in India, “irrespective of their religion”, may apply to adopt such a child (section 58(1)), and relative adoption under it may be made “irrespective of their religion” (section 56(2)).
• Kept separate: “Nothing in this Act shall apply to the adoption of children made under the provisions of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956” (JJ Act, section 56(3)). A CARA Office Memorandum of 9 February 2026 says that “once an adoption has already been executed under HAMA, the same case cannot be processed again” under the JJ Act and the Adoption Regulations.
• The Supreme Court: in Shabnam Hashmi v Union of India (19 February 2014), decided under the earlier Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, the Court called that Act “an enabling legislation that gives a prospective parent the option of adopting an eligible child”, and said that personal beliefs “cannot dictate the operation of the provisions of an enabling statute”. It said the time had not come to raise the right to adopt “to the status of a fundamental right”.

Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act

• Four requisites: the adopter has the capacity and right to adopt, the giver has the capacity to give, the child can be adopted, and the other conditions are met (section 6).
• A Hindu man: any male Hindu of sound mind who is not a minor may adopt, but “if he has a wife living, he shall not adopt except with the consent of his wife”, unless she has renounced the world, ceased to be a Hindu or been declared of unsound mind by a court (section 7).
• A Hindu woman: since the Personal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2010, any female Hindu of sound mind who is not a minor may adopt, but if her husband is living she “shall not adopt a son or daughter except with the consent of her husband”, with the same exceptions (section 8).
• Who may give: only the father, mother or guardian. The father and mother “shall have equal right to give a son or daughter in adoption”, but neither may do so without the other’s consent, with the same exceptions (section 9(1) and (2)). A guardian may give a child only “with the previous permission of the court” in the situations listed in section 9(4); “court” means “the city civil court or a district court within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the child to be adopted ordinarily resides”.
• Who may be adopted: a Hindu who has not already been adopted, has not been married, and “has not completed the age of fifteen years”, unless custom or usage permits otherwise (section 10).
• Other conditions (section 11): the adopter must not have a living Hindu son, son’s son or son’s son’s son when adopting a son, or a living Hindu daughter or son’s daughter when adopting a daughter; where a man adopts a girl, or a woman adopts a boy, the adopter must be “at least twenty-one years older”; and the child “must be actually given and taken in adoption” with intent to transfer the child to the adoptive family, though “the performance of dattahomam shall not be essential”.
• Effect: the adopted child is “the child of his or her adoptive father or mother for all purposes with effect from the date of the adoption”, and ties in the birth family are severed, subject to the provisos in section 12. “No adoption which has been validly made can be cancelled” (section 15).
• A registered document: where a registered document recording an adoption, signed by the person giving and the person taking the child, is produced in court, “the court shall presume that the adoption has been made in compliance with the provisions of this Act unless and until it is disproved” (section 16). The Telangana Registration and Stamps Department’s FAQ says: “An adoption deed has to be executed by both the parties and can be registered like any other document.”
• No payment: “No person shall receive or agree to receive any payment or other reward in consideration of the adoption of any person” (section 17(1)).
• Challenging an adoption: a suit for a declaration that an alleged adoption is invalid or never took place has three years from when the alleged adoption becomes known to the plaintiff (Limitation Act, 1963, Article 57).

Juvenile Justice Act: the District Magistrate’s order

• From court to District Magistrate: the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2021 substituted “District Magistrate” for “court” in the adoption sections, and “District Magistrate” includes an Additional District Magistrate. It came into force on 1 September 2022 (S.O. 4127(E)). Under regulation 36(1) of the Adoption Regulations, 2022, adoption cases pending before courts “shall stand transferred to the District Magistrate”.
• What the District Magistrate checks: that “the adoption is for the welfare of the child”, that “due consideration is given to the wishes of the child”, and that no payment or reward was given or received “except as permitted under the adoption regulations” (section 61(1)). The proceedings “shall be held in camera” and the case is to be disposed of “within a period of two months from the date of filing” (section 61(2)).
• Effect: the child becomes the child of the adoptive parents “as if the child had been born to the adoptive parents, for all purposes, including intestacy”, and ties in the birth family “shall stand severed” (section 63).
• Appeal: “Any person aggrieved by an adoption order passed by the District Magistrate may, within a period of thirty days from the date of such order … file an appeal before the Divisional Commissioner”; where there is no Divisional Commissioner, the State may empower an officer of equivalent rank (section 101(6) and (7)).

Who can adopt under the Adoption Regulations, 2022

• General: prospective adoptive parents “shall be physically, mentally, emotionally and financially capable”, without “any life threatening medical condition”, and should not have been convicted “in criminal act of any nature or accused in any case of child rights violation” (regulation 5(1)).
• Married or single: any person may adopt “irrespective of their marital status and whether or not they have biological son or daughter”, but “the consent of both the spouses for the adoption shall be required” for a couple; “a single female can adopt a child of any gender”; and “a single male shall not be eligible to adopt a girl child” (regulation 5(2)).
• Two years of marriage: “No child shall be given in adoption to a couple unless they have at least two years of stable marital relationship except in the cases of relative or step-parent adoption” (regulation 5(3)).
• Age limits (regulation 5(4)), counted on the date of registration:

• Age gap: “the minimum age difference between the child and either of the prospective adoptive parents shall not be less than twenty five years”. The age criteria “shall not be applicable in case of relative adoptions and adoption by step-parent” (regulation 5(4) and (6)).
• Couples with two or more children: they “shall only be considered for special needs children … and hard to place children … unless they are relatives or step-children” (regulation 5(7)).

These rules are separate from the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, which has its own age and other conditions.

The CARA procedure

• Register online: apply on the Designated Portal, the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS), “uploading the relevant documents within thirty days”. Applicants may choose two States or a cluster of States (regulation 10(1) and (2)).
• Home study: a Specialised Adoption Agency or District Child Protection Unit near the applicant is to complete the home study “within sixty days from the date of submission of requisite documents”, and the report “shall remain valid for three years”. Adoption “shall depend upon the availability of a suitable child” (regulation 10).
• Referral and matching: applicants are referred children by seniority, a maximum of three referrals a month apart, “subject to availability of children”, and may reserve a child “within a period of forty-eight hours”; matching is to be completed within thirty days of reserving. If they do not accept a reserved child, they are “relegated to the bottom of the seniority list” (regulation 11).
• Pre-adoption foster care: the child is to be taken into foster care “within ten days from the date of matching”, after signing an undertaking (regulation 12(1)).
• The order: the agency is to file the application with the District Magistrate, through the District Child Protection Unit of the district where the child is located, within ten days of matching. The District Magistrate is to hold the proceedings in camera and dispose of the case “as early as possible, not exceeding two months from the date of filing”, and adoptive parents “shall not be asked in the adoption order to execute any bond or make investment in the name of the child” (regulation 13).
• Birth certificate: the agency is to apply for a birth certificate naming the adoptive parents “within five days from the date of issuance of adoption order” (regulation 13(9)).
• Follow-up: post-adoption reports are prepared “on six monthly basis for two years” from the foster placement (regulation 14(1)).
• Fees: the fees notified in 2022 were Rs 6,000 for the home study, Rs 50,000 as the adoption fee (Rs 10,000 for each additional sibling) and Rs 2,000 per follow-up visit (Schedule XV); the Regulations say the Schedule “shall be revised by the Authority from time to time”. Agencies are “not permitted to accept any donation in cash or kind” (regulation 49(3)). A CARA memorandum of 4 June 2026 says “Adoption fees shall not be refunded in cases of disruption or dissolution”.
• Grievances: a grievance about eligibility, documents or the portal goes to the State Adoption Resource Agency “within seven days”, which is to decide “within fifteen days” (regulation 62).

Relative and step-parent adoption

• Who is a relative: for adoption under the JJ Act, “relative”, in relation to a child, “means a paternal uncle or aunt, or a maternal uncle or aunt, or paternal grandparent or maternal grandparent” (section 2(52)). Other family members and friends are not “relatives” for this route.
• Relative adoption in India (regulation 54): the adopter registers on the portal; “Consent of biological parents or permission of the Child Welfare Committee, as the case may be, shall be required”; the child’s consent is obtained “if they are five years of age or above”; and after approval the District Child Protection Unit files the application before the District Magistrate of the district where the child habitually resides.
• Step-parent adoption (regulation 55): the step-parent and the biological parent register together; “In case the custody of the child is under litigation, the adoption process shall be initiated only after the finalisation of the case by the court concerned”; and they file before the District Magistrate through the District Child Protection Unit where the child habitually resides. A “step parent” is “a parent who is married to the father or mother of a child, but who is not that child’s biological father or mother”.

NRIs, OCIs and inter-country adoption

• Priority: NRI and OCI cardholder prospective adoptive parents “shall be treated at par with Indians living in India in terms of priority” (regulation 15). Abroad, they register through the authorised foreign adoption agency or Central Authority of their country, or the Government department or Indian mission there (regulation 16).
• Inter-country adoption: “All inter-country adoptions shall be done only as per the provisions of this Act and the adoption regulations” (section 56(4)). A child who cannot be placed with an Indian or NRI family within sixty days of being declared legally free becomes free for inter-country adoption (section 59(1)).
• A relative abroad: must obtain an order from the District Magistrate and apply to CARA for a No Objection Certificate (section 60(1), as amended).
• A HAMA adoption taken abroad: Chapter VIII of the Regulations applies to “all adoption cases under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 … by prospective adoptive parents or adoptive parents residing outside the country” (regulation 64).
• Taking a child abroad without an order: anyone who “takes or sends a child to a foreign country … without a valid order” is punishable under section 80 (section 56(5), as amended).

Adopting outside the law

• Without following the procedure: “If any person or organisation offers or gives or receives, any orphan, abandoned or surrendered child, for the purpose of adoption without following the provisions or procedures as provided in this Act”, the punishment is imprisonment up to three years, or a fine of one lakh rupees, or both (JJ Act, section 80).
• Buying or selling a child: “Any person who sells or buys a child for any purpose” is punishable with rigorous imprisonment up to five years and a fine of one lakh rupees; where the offender has actual charge of the child, “including employees of a hospital or nursing home or maternity home”, the term is three to seven years (section 81).
• Payment under HAMA: receiving a payment for an adoption is punishable with up to six months, or fine, or both, and prosecution needs the State Government’s sanction (section 17).
• Surrendered children: parents who surrender a child “shall be given two months time to reconsider their decision” (section 35(3)).

A family that has taken in a child without an adoption order should take advice on the route that fits its facts. See our guides on child custody and drafting a will.

Checklist

• Which route applies: the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, or the JJ Act and Adoption Regulations.
• For the JJ route: registration on CARINGS, with documents uploaded within thirty days.
• Consent of both spouses, and the age limits in regulation 5.
• For a relative or step-child: whether the adopter is a “relative” under section 2(52), and the consents in regulations 54 and 55.
• For a HAMA adoption: the consents in sections 7 to 9, the conditions in sections 10 and 11, and actual giving and taking; and, for the presumption in section 16, a registered document signed by the person giving and the person taking the child.
• No payment to anyone beyond the fees in the Regulations.
• The adoption order, and the new birth certificate.

Related guides: child custody, maintenance, legal heir certificate, drafting a will and marriage registration.

For a discussion about an adoption, a relative or step-parent adoption, or an adoption deed with Musab Hashmi & Associates, call +91 89771 24916 or send an enquiry. Do not include identity numbers or details of a child in the first message.

General legal information, not legal advice. Checked on 29 October 2026 against the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 (as amended in 2010), the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and the Amendment Act, 2021 with S.O. 4127(E) of 31 August 2022 (Gazette copies), the Adoption Regulations, 2022 (G.S.R. 726(E), 23 September 2022), CARA Office Memoranda of 9 February 2026 and 4 June 2026, the Registration Act, 1908 as in force in Telangana and the Registration and Stamps Department’s FAQ, the Limitation Act, 1963, and the Supreme Court’s judgment in Shabnam Hashmi v Union of India (19 February 2014).