Adoption, especially international adoption, is a very exciting but stressful journey. The Heitger family experienced this when they decided to adopt from India. The people and the culture attracted them to the country, and brought them to their two new daughters.
Adopting internationally adds more steps to the adoption process. However, to help in this, all countries have a central authority regulating in-country and inter-country adoptions. In India, the system established is called the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). According to the India Times, it “is a statutory body of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. . . . It works in accordance with the provisions of The Hague Convention on Inter-country adoption, ratified by the Indian government in 2003.”
CARA has improved and expedited the adoption process. It has made the adoption process simpler, and for the Heitger family, allowed them to adopt their children nine months after they were born.
Kelkar, Secretary of Aadharashram, India stated that most of the girls placed have some kind of physical defect. “We never hide the medical history of the children adopted from here, and fortunately, in cases like these where parents adopt little girls despite their flaws, we believe that goodness still exists in humans,” Kelker said.
The Heitgers’ twin 9-month-old girls both have a heart defect and sickle cell anemia.
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