A bundle of joy and "new born" parents

Ramesh, who is a havaldar at the Army HQ, Southern Command, was surrounded by friends, one of whom has also adopted a child from Preet Mandir. Cheering them during the occasion was chairperson, Thermax group Anu Aga who gave the parents their bundle of joy. "Zankar" now renamed "Priyam" was brought to the Preet Mandir on Dr. Coyaji Road on January 17 this year when the infant was only six days old.

Says J S Bhasin, managing trustee of Preet Mandir, "Attitudes towards adoption have changed enormously. Today we have even single unmarried persons adopting children."

Established in 1979 as the Balwant Kartar Anand Foundation, this home for abandoned and destitute children has attracted over 400 adoptive parents. With an intake capacity of 45 children aged a day old to six years, Bhasin however now plans to set up a new institute at Kalyaninagar which will house a child welfare centre to arrest the street children problem.

The institute which will be functional by July will not only have an adoption centre, a shelter for destitute women and unwed mothers but also a vocational training centre. With the target of finding parents for at least six children every month, Bhasin also said a Belgian couple had agreed to adopt seven-year-old Poornima.

Little Priyam found a home today, but for three-year-old Sanket who was operated for the hole in his heart, the blind in one eye two-year-old child Akash and two mentally retarded children, it is but a long wait for caring parents. Bhasin is optimistic though as he quips, "We have 27 on our waiting list and till now we have sent all our children to good homes."