Two children adopted from child protection unit

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, March 18

Two children, six-year-old boy and over two-month-old girl, were adopted from the District Child Protection Office last week.

Vivaan (named changed) was adopted by a single mother who is a teacher in a government school, Ropar, and Manushi (name changed) was adopted by a couple from Chandigarh.

Talking to Bathinda Tribune, Ravneet Sidhu, District Child Protection Officer, said, “The over two-month-old infant (girl) was adopted by a couple from Chandigarh who are, by profession, tailors as well as run a boutique. Prospective parents looking for adoption do not necessarily have to be rich or have a strong financial base. There are numerous evaluation parameters on which parents (those looking for child adoption) are scrutinised, but finance has never been a priority. We try to make sure that after adoption the child (whether a boy or a girl) is looked after well. He/she is educated so that he could be self-sufficient and lead a fulfilling life.”

Ravneet Sidhu said, “To make sure that the adopted child is looked after well, we conduct follow-up sessions (monitoring) four times in the first year (on a quarterly basis) of adoption with the parents. After a year, follow-ups sessions are conducted after every six months for a few years.”

In February this year, two girls were adopted in the district. Over two-year-old Grace (name changed) was adopted by a Spanish couple while over-a-year-old Reese (name changed) was adopted by a US-based couple.

In a video shared by parents with the DCPO official, Grace has already started learning to greet and speak in Spanish. Her mother works in the Spanish Red Cross and father works as a marketing executive in a prestigious firm. Similarly, father of Reese works as a clerk and mother is a marketing executive in the US.

A total of five children have been adopted in the district in the past six months.

Last year, the first girl child, Anika (name changed), was adopted from the DCPO, Bathinda, by a couple from a south Indian state since the official child adoption agency was established at Shri Anath Ashram, Nathana, in October, 2016. Anika’s mother is a chartered accountant and father is in a senior position in a reputed automobile firm.

Earlier, prospective adopters for children had to visit the official child adoption agency at the government orphanage in Faridkot. Apart from five child adoptions in the past six months, there have been few rejections also on legal and financial grounds.

As the availability of children for adoption is less, a prospective adopter has to wait at least for one and a half years before his/her turn comes.

These children are transferred from the cradle (bhangura) at Mahant Gurbanta Dass School for Deaf and Dumb on the Goniana road to the adoption agency. The Bhangura Scheme was introduced in January 2008. It facilitates the well-being of destitute children. The scheme provides for an arrangement where anybody who does not want their child can leave it in the cradle.

A prospective adopter or couple needs to register and apply for child adoption on the official website of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and fulfil the required formalities that include uploading documents (IT returns of the past three years, DoB proof, ID proof, marriage certificate and occupation).