No takers for cradle baby scheme

Neena Sharma

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 28

The cradle baby scheme, launched with much fanfare last year by the Department of Social Welfare to provide a home to abandoned children through institutional adoptions, has found no takers in the state.

As part of the scheme, the Department of Social Welfare had put up cradles at hospitals and other strategic places. In Dehradun, the cradle that was put up at the women’s hospital remained an object of curiosity for a few days and nothing more.

Some officials say the scheme is in conflict with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA-2015) that was brought to provide protection to vulnerable children (children in need of care).

“The scheme is in conflict with Sections 35, 75 and 80 of the Juvenile Justice Act. These issues were raised before the Union Minister for Woman and Child Development,” said Manoj Chandaran, Additional Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare.

Section 80 of the Act states that if any person or organisation offers or gives or receives any orphan, abandoned or surrendered child for the purpose of adoption without following the provisions or procedures as provided in this Act, they shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend up to three years, or with fine.

Further, Section 35 states that children can only be surrendered before child committees and a complete procedure has to be followed under these provisions.

Similarly, provisions under Section 75 too have elaborate procedure that discourage willful abandonment of a child and take up the child for adoption only after several rounds of counselling sessions.

On the other hand, Vishnu Dhanik, Director, Social Welfare, says the scheme has been launched to provide homes for children who are abandoned by their parents. “This scheme will discourage parents from leaving their children at garbage dumps and in forests. Sometimes unwed mothers, fearing social stigma, are forced to resort to such drastic measures,” added Dhanik.