21) Documentation Samples

The documentation requirements from CARA include several affidavits and declarations. We were given the templates for some by our RIPA in Mumbai while others were free-form letters that we drafted ourselves. I include here redacted versions of some of these documents - you may find these useful as references while you are preparing your own.

This page contains examples of the following documents:

• Self-Affidavit: Child-Care Arrangements for our Adopted Child
• Undertaking from Adoptive Parents
• Declaration of Consent and Willingness of the Adoptive Father
• Declaration of Consent and Willingness of the Adoptive Mother
• Consent of Wife Letter
• Power of Attorney Granted to RIPA
• Suitability Report issued by EFAA for Adoptive Couple
• Certificate of Undertaking from EFAA
• No Objection Certificate from High Commission of India
• In-Principle Approval from Host Government
• Eventuality Letter / Undertaking from Younger Relative

*) Self-Affidavit: Child-Care Arrangements for our Adopted Child:

*) Undertaking from Adoptive Parents:

*) Declaration of Consent and Willingness of the Adoptive Father:

*) Declaration of Consent and Willingness of the Adoptive Mother:

*) Consent of Wife Letter:

*) Power of Attorney Granted to RIPA:

Since you are not resident in India, your RIPA will ask you to provide them with a Power of Attorney letter to enable them to take any steps on your behalf with respect to the adoption. This letter needs to be typed on plain paper and both notarized by a public notary AND endorsed by the High Commission / Embassy of India in the host country. You will essentially be providing the POA to a single person representing your RIPA - the name and address of this person will be given to you by your RIPA.

The redacted sample below shows the format that this letter must take. Page 3 shows the attestation/endorsement by the High Commission of India, Singapore. The public notary's stamps are on all pages.

*) Suitability Report issued by EFAA for Adoptive Couple:

This was a requirement that mystified us for quite some time as we were under the impression that the Home Study Report sufficed as a document certifying our eligibility as adoptive parents. CARA lists this as a required document without providing a template or further explanation as to what the contents of this document should be.

Item (j) on the Annexure II list maintained by CARA cryptically states:

j) Approval of the Central Authority (suitability report – HSR).

Isn't CARA the Central Authority? How can our EFAA in Singapore provide an "Approval of the Central Authority"?

Anyway, since it is on the CARA list, our RIPA in Mumbai insisted that we get a 'Suitability Report' from our EFAA in Singapore. After much discussion with them, we eventually extracted the last paragraph of our Home Study Report and got it drafted as a separate letter. To this day, we haven't understood the point of doing this. But hey, they accepted it and that was all that mattered.

*Update*: I now believe speculate that 'Central Authority' refers to the government body that oversees the EFAA and provides it with its license to operate. In Singapore's case, that would be MCYS, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. This still doesn't explain why CARA eventually accepted a letter issued by Touch.

I look forward (but don't hold my breath) to the day when the CARA website will have clear instructions for its required documents. I suppose one of the problems they face is standardizing anything, given that adoptive couples reside in several different foreign jurisdictions across the world.

*) Certificate of Undertaking from EFAA:

This was actually issued to us by MCYS - Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports in Singapore. Items (l) and (m) in Annexure II on the CARA website state:

l) Undertaking from EFAA sponsoring the foreigner to the effect that child would be legally adopted by the foreign adoptive parents according to the law of the country within a period not exceeding two years from the time of arrival of the child and as soon as the adoption is effected, the enlisted agency will send certified copies of adoption order each to all concerned.

m) Undertaking from the EFAA that follow up report relating to progress of the child along with his/her recent photograph would be sent six monthly basis for a period of 2 years or until such time as the legal adoption is completed and citizenship is acquired in the receiving country.

The letter we got from MCYS covered both these points and was as follows:

*Remark*: Note that the letter needs to contain the name of the child. In our case, MCYS issued a generic letter without a child's name when we submitted our preliminary dossier to our RIPA. They then - on our request - reissued the letter, this time with the child's name on it - when we had been matched with a child and prepared our final dossier for submission to CARA for the No Objection Certificate. In retrospect, it would have been fine to simply wait to be matched first before soliciting this letter from MCYS.

*Remark*: With reference to point 1 in the letter above, we are yet to ascertain whether we are required to legally adopt our child again in the Singapore courts since we are already legally parents as per the Mumbai court order. As of now, our child is here on a social visit pass and we have applied for permanent resident status; much as we would have done for a biological child. I will post an update here when this situation becomes clearer.

*) No Objection Certificate from High Commission of India:

This is required for all NRIs and must be issued by the High Commission / Embassy of India in the country you are resident in. Like some documents above, this too needs to include the name of the child you have been matched with.

*Note*: If the child is now called Sheetal and you intend on changing her name to Maya after adoption, then all documents that need the child's name are to use this format: Current Name @ Intended Name. E.g. Sheetal @ Maya. 

*) In-Principle Approval from Host Government:

Item (q) on the Annexure II list on the CARA website states:

q) Certificate from EFAA sponsoring application of the foreigner to the effect that adoptive parents are permitted to adopt a child according to the law of their country and the child will receive an entry permit/visa.

In our case, the closest document to this we managed to obtain was an in-principle approval letter from MCYS - the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports in Singapore. The structure of the letter is shown below. MCYS would not include the child's name on the letter despite our RIPA in Mumbai insisting that this be done, and the letter was submitted (and eventually accepted) as such.

*) Eventuality Letter / Undertaking from Younger Relative:

This letter is to be provided by a younger sibling or relative expressing their willingness to look after the child, should something happen to the both of you. The letter has to be typed on a Rs. 100 non-judicial stamp paper and notarized by a public notary.