Hardlook: Cradle of life in Delhi’s adoption agencies

These 12 specialised adoption agencies are connected to Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) governed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

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Loraine Campos, Assistant Director, Palna, tells The Indian Express some children are found on the streets, some come through child welfare committees and some are left in the cradle outside the house. Campos adds most of the children found are girls. According to Campos, many couples approach them for adoptions and many are keen on daughters. “Not only Indian, foreign couples also approach us to adopt girl children.”

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An adoption is given the go-ahead after due diligence and completion of procedures. Veerendra Mishra, Secretary and CEO of CARA, tells The Indian Express the official process of adoption is simple, but unofficial modes are illegal. “There is no other process of adoption of a child without registering on CARA. If anyone approaches a tout or uses other means, it will be an illegal act,” he warns.

The journey of a child abandoned or surrendered to one of the 12 specialised homes starts after the case is reported to police. An investigation starts and the child is produced before a child welfare committee and kept under observation of doctors.

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“In case of Anushka, she was brought to Palna by police. She was just a day-old, it appeared. She was underweight. Now, her weight is 3 kg and she is doing fine. There were some bruises on her face, which have healed,” says Dr Narendra Tomar, who checks on her every day. In the afternoons, Dr Veronica Shah checks on her.

Anushka is among the 50 girls out of 70 children of various ages at Palna now. Her rescue saw police register a case under section 317 (Exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years, by parent or person having care of it) of the Indian Penal Code.

A chart in a classroom at Palna lists what the children want to be when they grow up. (Source: Express photo by Cheena Kapoor)

An employee at Udayan, a specialised home for infants and toddlers, says, “This is a nursery. Once they become 2 years old, they are shifted to other institutes.”

The 12 specialised agencies follow CARA guidelines all the way through — from registering a child till the adoption process.

The adoption process

Every applicant has to register on CARA website, according to the guidelines. After completion of legal formalities, which include an ‘untraced’ report from police in the case of an abandoned child, and clearance from child welfare committee, a child is deemed ready for adoption. Thereafter, a parent in waiting gets the child.

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Applicants are shown between two and six children in the age group they have specified in their form. “All such things are done very systematically. The norms and rules were made to bring transparency to the child adoption process,” said a senior officer of CARA. Last year, 178 children were adopted from Delhi’s 12 specialised adoption agencies by Indian, foreign as well as NRI parents.

Hunt for parents of abandoned children: Problems police face

Delhi Police officials says cases of abandoned newborns, infants and children below three years old are difficult to crack. At least 90 per cent of such cases remain untraced, said police sources. Even when the parents are found, they refuse to accept their child, the sources added.

Special Commissioner of Police Taj Hassan, told The Indian Express, “After a child is found, the first priority of the investigating officer (IO) is to arrange for treatment if required. It is very difficult for an IO to establish identity of a newborn or a small child.”

He added, “Parents who surrender their children are counselled to take them back. If they do not want to do so, the children are sent again to the care centres.”

The cases of abandoned and surrendered children as well as intent to cause miscarriage, intent to prevent a child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth, exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years and concealment of birth by secret disposal of body are registered under sections 312 to 318 of the Indian Penal Code.