Your name is linked to Lambada tribe exposure on sale of infants and banning of international adoptions in Andhra Pradesh. Can you tell me a little about this ?

I was commissioned by the UNICEF in June of 2001 to do a study on the relinquishment of girl babies in south Telangana. That was when I really became aware of the issue.

I had of course, been reading the newspapers and had an idea about the same, as Andhra has been having repeated scams from 1996. In 2001, we did an extensive survey in four mandals of Andhra Pradesh, where we covered every household of these high incidence mandals, where children were being relinquished. I met so many women, and for the first time, a different kind of a view was presented to me. Earlier, as a middle class person, sitting in a town and reading a newspaper, whenever I read things like child sale, I would be horrified at the idea that a parent would want to sell his/her baby. I could never imagine that. There was a lot of blame put on parents, especially the mother. When I did the study I got a completely different perspective. What they said was that they had never given away their babies earlier, but in the last 5 to 10 years, with dowry creeping into the Lambadas, and with touts going around offering money for babies, there was a process set in motion in which criminals were encouraging people to give up children. I found that the mothers who had given up their children were full of anguish. Earlier I had this very stupid notion that we love our children and perhaps, these women don't. I found that completely false. They love their children, they had no say as the mother in law and the husband took the decision; in some cases the women fought back and were beaten. I thought that it was bad to induce people to become criminals. Selling a child is a criminal act.

Then I contacted the agencies to know why it is happening. Every agency projected itself as clean and pointed fingers at others. 'They will do anything to get children, from buying to kidnapping'. It was so peculiar; I contacted ten agencies, each said that they were clean while the other nine were not. Each one tried to give me facts and figures on how the others were collecting crores of money. The only possible conclusion was that all of them were equally criminal and were encouraging international adoptions as there is a lot of money involved. That is how I got into this area.

You have done a lot of extensive research on the subject. Are these research papers available for public reading ? If yes then where ?

A place of refuge for kids in distress

28 Years On, Child Fund Association Helps The Underprivileged To Stand On Their Feet

Yamini Nair | TNN

Agroup of women in 1982 decided to make a difference to society. The welfare of underprivileged children was their area of concern and Child Fund Association, a home for orphaned and destitute children, was their brainchild.

Children from extremely poor families with a single or a disabled parent are provided with food, clothing, medical care and education to enable them to stand on their feet.

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — Authorities have identified a woman found deceased inside a drainage area behind the vacant Kmart in West Valley City.

According to West Valley City Police, the deceased has been identified as 43-year-old Cami Shepherd.

Shepherd’s remains were found April 6 by a survey crew hired by the new owners of the property. The Kmart has been vacant for more than a year.

Police say there has been an active missing person investigation for Shepherd since February 2 of this year. Family reported to police at that time that while it was not uncommon for them not to hear from her for extended periods, they were worried about her well-being.

While the deceased has been positively identified, further examination is required to determine the cause of death.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/childrens-home-sealed-in-medavakkam/article6158403.ece

1 010140146R NEW LIFE 1/12, Naadaar Street, Naadaar Chathiram, Somarasampettai (Via),604,620102 Social

2 010160266R Society of Servi Domini 6/128, Opp. Government High School,Burkitmangar,627351 Educational ,Social

3 075820002R Gurukul Luthern Theelogical College & Research Institute 94- Purasawalkam High Road,, Kilpauk, Chennai,Tamil Nadu-600010 Educational ,Social

4 075820005R Loyola College Society Loyola College Campus, Chennai,Tn-600034 Educational ,Social

5 075820006R Madras Christian College Tambaram, ,Madras- Educational ,

Adopted children by virtue of being adopted, have a biological background – which holds their identity and “Roots” is the journey in search of that identity, to find the missing link of their lives prior to being adopted.

It is an important journey for both – the adoptees as well as the adoptive parents for the sole reason that it is the adopted child’s need & right to know where he/she came from. Who were their birth parents and what were the reasons for them to be in Bal Anand. This issue is more pronounced in foreign adoption than Indian adoption. To find out, they make the long journey to India and to the childrens’ home from where they were adopted.

In my experience, there have been a vast variety of reasons to make this journey – ranging from the simple reasons like a visit to their birth country, to see the childrens’ home from where adopted, to find out who took care of them – to thank them for giving them a future with their adoptive parents to know about their birth mother, or who gave them their name, etc. to the more extreme reasons like being besieged with feelings of insecurity over why they were abandoned or relinquished despite being happy with their adoptive families. It is obvious that the adoptees and even their adoptive parents wish to know to help their child. It is also their right to know. Yet how much do we tell? In our concern for the adoptees quest, we cannot forget the young girl who had given up her child in secrecy and who does not want to be contacted again. If we tell, it amounts to breach of trust. In such a scenario, we have to respect the trust vested in us by the birth mother just as we respect the child’s right to know.

It is at this point in the search that the adoption agency in the absence of the birth mother plays a key role in helping the adoptees generally adolescents or young adults to find answers. From the documents maintained, we give all the information except identifying information of name & address. If handled with understanding and sensitivity, they accept and are content to see how the children are cared for, to know that their names figure in our records and that they were not really abandoned. They were given up for their better future by way of adoption. Infact seeing the children, being with them takes care of many of their questions.

These following lines from an adoptee sums up the importance of the visit to the childrens’ home “ I am happy that I have seen with my own eyes what life is like in Bal Anand. I can now feel good about the first months of my life, when I was living in Bal Anand myself.”

as a child

Sunitha’s earliest photo at the Orphanage

I was born in a rural area of southern India at the beginning of 1979. I passed through a Catholic orphanage before reaching my adoptive home in Belgium, April 1981.

My adoptive parents already had two biological sons, aged 6 and 8. I grew up with the knowledge that my adoptive parents wanted a daughter. I learned later in life that they felt responsible for the death of their first son, who passed away from leukaemia. They wanted to provide a safe haven for a disadvantaged child. India came as a second choice because it was too complicated to adopt a Belgian child.

They had prepared two names for me. The feminine of the son they lost – Patricia and Angelique – like angel. Eventually, they kept my Indian name saying they liked it and it fitted well in Belgium.

To address the grave concerns that has come to notice, through media reports, that some organizations have been propagating illegal adoption outside the domain of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, which is tantamount to child trafficking, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has instructed that all the State Govts/UTs should ensure that all the registered Child Care institutions, whether run by a State Government or by voluntary or non-governmental organizations, are linked to Specialized Adoption Agencies and are reflected in the online portal CARINGS within one month. This applies to all CCIs which are meant, either wholly or partially, for housing children in need of care and protection or children in conflict with law,

Further for speedy execution, State Govt/UTs have also been asked to publish this direction in the local newspaper to ensure compliance by the institutions within the stipulated period, failing which action may be taken against the non-complying institutions.

State Govts/UT have also been asked to issue instructions for conducting inspection of all homes run by Missionaries of Charity and also identify all potential institutions/organizations which could be involved in unlawful activities. Conduction of timely inspections of the Institutions, as per the provisions of Section 54 of the Act, has also been advised.

Besides in order to check the illegal adoptions, State Govt/UTs have been asked to keep a close watch on the maternity hospitals and other facilities, which may also act as potential places for illegal and child trafficking. A Status report has been asked from the States/UTs by 31.07.2018

A Background note:

The family who inspired the Hollywood film Lion say their story may have contributed to the Australian government's decision this week to reverse a ban on adoptions from India.

"I think maybe the movie ended up getting into the hearts of those bureaucrats to open those gates again," Saroo Brierley, played by Dev Patel in the 2016 film, told SBS News.

Dev Patel

Dev Patel in Lion.

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