33 orphaned kids set for a new innings

PUNE, Sept 11: Saturday will dawn with a promise to rejuvenate those orphaned smiles. It will pump fresh impulses into the blood of those...

PUNE, Sept 11: Saturday will dawn with a promise to rejuvenate those orphaned smiles. It will pump fresh impulses into the blood of those children and, most importantly, induce parental care in them as they begin fresh innings with childless couples.

One of the first of its kind, such a mass adoption programme, which will pave the way for the rehabilitation of 33 children is being organised by SOFOSH (Society of friends of the Sassoon Hospitals) at Saraswat Social Union Hall, behind Zilla Parishad building tomorrow.

Finding homes for those children, who have been orphaned by destiny or as a result of social obligations, is no mean challenge. Separated from the birth parents these undernourished, premature and abandoned babies reach the Shreevatsa child care centre of SEFOSH to be fondled and nourished back to life.

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Taking care of an abandoned child is not the main issue. The team of 60 dedicated social workers and nurses have been doing it since 1973. What the child needs is personal care; it wants someone to treat it as a part of their own life; it yearns for someone to groom it for a better future life. And the child can only realise this dream only when it is rehabilitated in a family. And now 33 couples of adoptive parents will legally adopt the baby tomorrow which they have identified.

Adoption!. It is not just that you identify the child of your choice and you get it. In fact, it is the other way round. The child needs to be rehabilitated with the right couple. Formalities may drag on for months together. After verifying the physical and mental fitness of the probabale parents it is ensured that the couple is capable of ensuring proper care for the child.

During the interim period, after identifying the probable parents and legalising the adoption, the child is allowed to be with the couple and with regular home visits the social workers ensure that the `mother’ is capable of taking future care of the child and proper support system is evolved for the adoption.

Once they get the green signal a petition is filed in the district magistrate’s court to initiate the legalities and after proper hearing and once the court is satisfied with the climate is fit for the child to move over to pastures new then only the adoption is legalised.

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Till now 1560 children have been able to shape their future, thanks to SOFOSH.

No doubt, relationships are not just born, but created.

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