Before You Adopt: what you must understand about the ‘normal category’

Before You Adopt: what you must understand about the ‘normal category’ – An Indian Adoption

Published by smritigupta09 on August 20, 2025

If you are a registered prospective adoptive parent (i.e. a PAP), you must have made a few decisions while registering in Carings, the CARA system for matching legally adoptable children with their forever parents. One of the decisions is whether to select the ‘normal category’ or the ‘special needs category’ for the child’s health. As much as I wish more people would consider the ‘special needs category,’ the reality is that most PAPs tend to select the ‘normal category.’ And this is what they assume: normal category means that the child will have perfect health!

What ‘Normal Category’ Actually Means 

‘Normal category’ means that the child currently does not have any known health needs that would qualify the child as special needs. Normal category includes:

1. Children whose health may have been impacted due to time spent in a shelter. A child may be under-weight, have developmental delays, may not be communicative, etc. but it does NOT mean that the child is special needs. Once children have the love, attention, and resources of a permanent family, they thrive physically and mentally. For that to happen, adoptive families must have the patience and thoughtfulness to support children through the initial months and years while the children become healthy again.

2. Children who may have mild, correctible, or manageable health needs. These needs are generally not handled well in a shelter environment, making them seem excessive, but again, it does NOT mean that the child is special needs. These children need to get adopted by loving families as soon as possible, so they can get the medical care and attention and start living their full life again.

3. Children whose health needs or special needs may show up later in life. Do not put the child through medical tests assuming that it will tell you everything about the child’s future health – that’s not how things work. Hopefully a child with normal health would continue that way, but that’s never a guarantee. This is true for all children, biological or adopted. 

   
   

Why You Need to Know This

When PAPs don’t understand what ‘normal category’ means, it results in:

1. PAPs getting distressed over a child’s health when they get a referral, rather than being happy and understanding that as future parents, it will be their responsibility to help the child thrive physically and mentally.

2. PAPs unnecessarily rejecting referrals thinking that they will get a healthier child next time.

3. PAPs putting the child through unnecessary tests, thinking that if they just do enough due diligence, they will get the perfect child.

4. PAPs wrongly insisting that the child they have been referred must be moved to the special needs category, just because the child doesn’t meet all health parameters as per their expectations. 

5. PAPs dissolving an adoption (i.e. returning the child) because they discovered a health issue after the child was part of the family. 

   
   

Adopt with Acceptance

If you are ready to adopt, also be ready to accept. It does not mean that you ignore your own limits. What it does mean is that you realistically understand that any child can have health issues, and the adoption system cannot guarantee you otherwise. Be excited, be hopeful, and also be compassionate and kind. You have all the power as the parent – use it to be supportive and not judgmental. And if at any point you feel that the adoption ecosystem owes you a perfect child because you have waited too long, or done too much paperwork, you are not in the right mindset to adopt. The system exists so that every child finds a parent, not the other way around.