Childless couples eager to adopt Covid orphans

Children of migrant labourers pose new challenges to fostering authorities

A poster reiterates the importance of due process in adoption.

Bengaluru’s child helpline 1098 has been receiving at least 10 calls a day over the past week, mostly from parents offering to adopt children orphaned by the pandemic.

Fake messages calling for adoptive parents and giving out numbers are also doing the rounds.

Most calls are from childless couples who have already registered on the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) website.

Child Rights Trust and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), tasked with finding homes for pandemic orphans, say they are up against new challenges.

“We have to verify the background of the people calling, and also trace the history of the child. We are also verifying claims from relatives who want to take custody of the children,” says Anjali Ramanna, chairperson of CWC.

Isolation first

The government is in the process of first identifying a place where the children can be kept before homes are found for them.

“We have three challenges. One, some children will have to be kept in an isolation ward because their parents were positive. Then, we have to test them after specified days. And finally, we have to ensure the children’s safety. In some cases, we are also arranging for counselling,” she told Metrolife.

The Child Rights Trust has received seven such calls. “Adoption requires a long drawn documentation process. We try to understand why these people need to adopt, we check if either of the parents has a history of alcoholism and if they have enough money and family background to take care of the child. Adoption is possible only through a legal process,” explains Nagasimha G Rao, director, Child Rights Trust.

Trafficking risk

Antony Sebastian, chairperson, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, says the authorities have to take extra precautions to counter the risk of child trafficking.

“The maximum calls our helpline has received are from Kengeri, Summanahalli and Whitefield,” says Antony. He says teams are trying to the extended families of these children.

“Many among the parents who have died are daily wage earners and migrant labourers,” he adds.

The government has roped in several NGOs to address the crisis.

Fr Mathew Thomas, executive director, BOSCO, says the first step is to try and connect the child with its relatives. “If the relatives are poor then the government must come forward to financially support the care of the children in relative’s families,” he says. “If relatives are not there then we must find families who can provide foster care for these children,” he adds.

Samyukta’s initiative

Actor Samyukta Horanad, who has started a WhatsApp group to trace the families of orphaned children, says collecting details of genuine relatives is a task in itself. “We are looking at how we can follow the procedures and connect these children to suitable families,” she says. Samyukta works with a group of volunteers.

Adopting?

Here are government numbers you
should call.

080-47181177 (Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR)

1098 (Childline)