A growing number of Indian couples are specifically requesting to adopt girls, according to adoption agencies in the country. Data from the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) shows that more girls are being adopted compared to boys. Some couples believe that daughters are more caring and attached to their families, while others want to challenge the traditional preference for male children.

Pune-based couple Protima Sharma and Shyne Kochuveed wanted to have one biological child and a second via adoption. When they were unable to conceive, the doctor suggested they go for in-vitro fertilisation. But the 30-somethings decided they would go for adoption right away. While filling the adoption registration form in 2015, they opted for a girl child — the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) which oversees adoptions in India allows parents to state a gender preference or remain neutral. Soon, they brought home a three-month-old baby girl and named her Ivanka.
In 2017, they registered for another adoption and once again ticked the box for ‘girl child’. After a wait of two years, they became proud parents to threemonth-old Verushka. “Friends and family members were surprised. They would ask us why we didn’t ask for a boy, at least this time around, to complete our family. But we didn’t feel the need to defend our choice. I would tell them, ‘this is our complete family’,” says Sharma.
Sharma and Kochuveed are among a small but growing number of Indian couples who prefer a girl child. A look at CARA’s statistics show that more girls are being adopted compared to boys. In 2021-22, 1,698 girls were adopted as op posed to 1,293 boys. While these figures also reflect an unfortunate reality — more girls are being abandoned and, therefore, landing in the adoption pool, senior officials in CARA and adoption counsellors in cities say they have witnessed an uptick in the proportion of parents who specifically ask for a girl child. “Over the past three years, we have observed that seven out of 10 couples who register for adoption opt for a girl child while filling the form. The other three are neutral and open to a child of either gender but when you ask them what their heart desires, two still say they yearn for a girl. Only one couple would perhaps say, ‘I would like a boy’,” says Sunil Arora, executive director of Bal Asha Trust, which is one of the leading adoption centres in Mumbai.
Arora, who counsels parents considering adoption, points out that while earlier this trend was seen only in urban centres, now a sizeable number of parents from smaller towns is also asking for girl children. This is heart-warming considering India has a long-standing obsession with ‘raja betas’, especially in the more patriarchal north where daughters are considered a ‘burden’ (thanks to dowry culture) and sons, a ‘boon’ as they take over the family business and produce heir/heirs who carry forward the family name.
 

Smriti Gupta, co-founder of a non-profit called ‘Where are India’s Chil dren’ which aims to change the mindset about adoption, says the landscape of adoption has changed in a big way. “Now, a lot of families adopt out of choice, and not because they are unable to have a biological child and have exhausted all possible medical treatments. They want to become ‘parents’ and are less fixated on gender,” says Gupta.
Some feel that daughters are more caring and attached to their families. “Others fear that a boy may not take the news that he was adopted positively when he is a little older and may not care for his parents,” says Parul Agrawal, founder of the Adoption Action Group, a support group for prospective adoptive parents. She adds that a few families also feel that if they are “elevating the lifestyle” of an orphan, they would rather help a girl. “We have a history of believing that looking after a kanya gets you more punya; agar savarni hai to ladki ki zindagi savaro,” she says.

NAVI MUMBAI: A newborn girl was found in a duffle bag. She was abandoned by a masked man in the common passage of Laxmi Hospital and fitness club in Ghansoli on Friday.
The incident has been captured by the CCTV camera. The baby’s cries were heard by the gym members who informed the owner and summoned the Koparkhairne police. Since the baby was alive, the cops took her to NMMC hospital, Vashi for a medical check-up. All health parameters were normal, the cops kept her at the NGO Vishwa Balak Kendra in Nerul.
 

An FIR has been registered against the baby's mother and the masked man who abandoned her.
Constable Priti Nehe said, “I am willing to adopt the abandoned girl child.”

Sushant Parte, gym instructor said, “I want to adopt the abandoned girl child and shall follow the legal process.”

We also published the following articles recently

 

Jharkhand: Abandoned child gets new home and family in Italy In a historic move, an adoption agency in Jharkhand's Dumka has granted international adoption for the first time in the district. An Italian couple, residing in Italy, has adopted a child whom the mother and family had rejected. The couple, who had been trying to have children for years, registered on a website and went through all the necessary legal procedures to bring the child back to Italy. This is the 18th inter-country adoption from Dumka since 2018.103747215

No HC relief for 2 abandoned girls in med seat quota The Bombay High Court has refused to direct the Directorate of Medical Education and Research to consider two abandoned girls for admission to undergraduate medical courses under the 1% horizontal reservation quota. The court stated that granting interim relief would deprive other orphans of seats in the medical courses. The petitioners argued that the government resolution discriminated between orphans and abandoned children, violating the Right to Equality. The court rejected the interim application and stated that the issues raised would require further examination at the final hearing.103770616

Hundreds of traumatised children are thought to have lost their families in disaster

People in western Libya have rallied round to provide care and breastmilk for young children orphaned by the devastating floods that hit the coastal city of Derna on 10 September.

Hundreds of traumatised babies and young children are thought to have lost their parents in Derna, where whole neighbourhoods were wiped out after two dams broke.

“Infant children do not wish to use artificial feeding bottles, which forced us to search for breastfeeding mothers,” said Mona Alashi, a volunteer.

Nawal Alghazal, a 62-year-old resident of Benghazi, has started a campaign to collect breastmilk from women already breastfeeding their own children and distribute it to children whose mothers are dead or missing.

Are You Ok Baby Twitter Review: Directed by Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, music by Ilaiyaraja and produced by Monkey Creative Lab, Are You OK Baby movie is released worldwide today.

Samuthrakani In Lakshmi Ramakrishnan Film

Are You Ok Baby starring Samuthrakani, Abhirami, Mysskin, Pavel Navageethan, Mullai Arasi, Uday Mahesh and Aadukalam Naren is the fifth film from director Lakshmy Ramakrishnan. CS Premkumar is the editor of this film. Cinematography is done by Krishnasekar TS.

It is important to note that the film has got positive response from the special media premiere which was organized by the film crew in Chennai recently. Checkout this space for more interesting twitter reviews about the film Are You Ok Baby:

"Majority of audience were tuned to watch only those films with blood, drugs and violence. It is rare to see small films wining big at the box office. This film 'Are You Ok Baby?' has the scope to become a hit like Sillu Karuppatti and Good Night. And I'm sure that 'Are You OK Baby?' movie will stir up debates and controversies. There are multiple layers in the film with ruthless dialogues and adult content, censored with a clean U/A certificate.

Alison Christiana was able to track down her history with the help of Banet, a group of Korean women supporting and helping Korean adoptees

Alison Christiana, aged 40, is being reunited with her family 38 years after she was sent to the US for adoption at the age of 2.
Christiana said Wednesday she was planning to visit Cheongju, a city in North Chungcheong Province, the next day to be reunited with her older brother. She managed to ultimately locate her family with the help of Cheongju municipal officials.

Christiana, who works as a photographer in California, has visited Korea twice since 2008 in the hope of tracking down her family.

Born in 1983, Christiana stayed at North Chungcheong Hope Center, a now-closed orphanage in Cheongju, from May to October 1985. That November, she was sent to the US for adoption. The only adoption record in her possession listed her name as Lee Ja-yeong.

After various attempts to find her family turned up nothing, Christiana got in touch with Banet, a group that helps adoptees find their roots. Banet in turn asked the city of Cheongju for assistance.

The Committee on Enforced Disappearances today co-hosted an event at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to mark the first anniversary of the joint statement on illegal intercountry adoptionsOpens in new window.  Speakers discussed the content and objectives of the joint statement, highlighted its importance for victims and identified future actions to promote its implementation. 

Olivier de Frouville, Chair of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, said that the purpose of the joint event was to consider how to implement the joint statement and how to ensure that victims’ rights were protected.  Mr. de Frouville stressed the importance of listening to the voices of victims, who went through great personal stress to tell their stories.     

Mr. de Freuville said there was a rising tide of people adopted during the 1970s and later who were now looking for their relatives.  States needed to respect human rights conventions and instruments, and the joint statement constituted a practical guide in that regard.  The treaty body system offered several procedures that could be triggered to help persuade States to implement effective measures.  In closing, Mr. de Freuville said the practice of illegal intercountry adoptions was a multilateral and a societal issue, and needed to be treated accordingly. 

The joint event was co-hosted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child; the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Guarantees of Non-recurrence; the Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children including child prostitution, child pornography, and other child sexual abuse material; the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children; and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. 

During the session, two panel discussions were held, the first presenting testimonies of victims and States’ experiences, and the second discussing the relevance of the joint statement.  In addition to the co-hosts, representatives of the Governments of France and Ukraine, civil society organisations and persons affected by illegal intercountry adoptions participated in the panels.

Hi everyone my name is Lynelle Long and I’m a Vietnamese adoptee raised in Australia. I’m also the founder of InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV) and I’m presenting to you from Sydney. Firstly, I wish to thank the UN Committees and Special Rapporteurs for inviting ICAV here today and for their hard work and commitment to supporting us. Special thanks to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances for making this possible and coordinating us all! I am honoured to be here with my fellow colleagues! Having published the UN Joint Statement a year ago, it was and remains a beacon of light after so many years of our voices crying out in what often felt like the darkness. Perhaps because of our great resilience and courage from being sent abroad completely alone as adoptees into a foreign country as infants and young children, we have developed the tenacity and will power to be able to stand here today to fight for our rights and call out the wrongs done to so many of us. Our global community is large and ICAV is here to represent a portion of that. I would love for all of them to present to you themselves, but for the purposes of today’s meeting and due to the time constraints, ICAV has compiled a collaborative paper that gives you their input and perspectives, other than from only the speakers today. I know from providing peer support to this community for 25 years, that our experiences vary and it’s important to understand the nuances when trying to achieve real and impactful change. We come to you presenting our ICAV paper, representing 9 adoptive countries and 19 birth countries. Our paper has been provided as a link to the CED Secretariat but is also hosted at ICAVs website https://intercountryadopteevoices.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Victims-of-IllegalIntercountry-Adoption-Speak-Out-to-the-UN.pdf I’m going to speak about what we see as the top 4 priorities as shown in our global collaborative, and I provide my suggestion as to WHO should be involved and responsible to address each priority: Priority 1 We need legislative frameworks to define illegal intercountry adoptions and allow the prosecution of those who do wrong. We need to criminalise the behaviours and we need to remove barriers such as the statutes of limitations and ensure compensation to victims aligned to the lifelong impacts. Who responsible: Legislative frameworks need to be tackled by politicians and lawyers around the world and ultimately it is the public - the people - who push legislators and governments to do the will of the people. The UN could also further assist by developing an in-depth legal definition for what an illegal and illicit intercountry adoption is, providing examples. The UN is already addressing the huge need to educate people by holding this forum today. Papers like ICAVs and the many other adoptee led papers and resources that contribute significantly to this topic are important. We all do what we can to educate the world. Priority 2 Truth investigations that lead to public acknowledgement, an accounting for what has gone wrong, and having full, un-redacted access to our history and origins artefacts. Who responsible: States / governments around the world need to fund an independent body to conduct Truth Investigations so that the evidence is brought to light and then the States need to www.intercountryadopteevoices.com Page 1 of 2 give public acknowledgements and funding to remedy the wrongs of the past. Priority 3 The need for legislated and free post adoption supports that include illegal and illicit intercountry adoption specialist supports, esp DNA testing, genealogy, and search/reunification services. Not all countries currently offer post adoption supports. This needs to change. Who responsible: legislators to bring about the legislation part, but then States need to fund and ensure provision of trauma informed and professional services. Priority 4 Stop and end all intercountry adoptions as they are conducted today (Hague and non Hague) and until priority 1, 2 and 3 are addressed. We should not be continuing what has become the commodification and trade of children. Who responsible: States / governments, The Hague, need to step up and end this ongoing trade of children, take responsibility for their own and turn to local solutions in-country. Intercountry adoption in this manner and via the current processes since the past 70 years are not in the best interests of the child. To end, I want to bring attention to the voices of biological families who you have started to hear from today. I am thankful and honoured to have worked with the CED to enable this as our first event where adoptees and biological families can present our experiences and views, side by side. Illegal and illicit intercountry adoptions have lifelong and multi generational impacts and as adoptees being raised in mostly white western countries we have so much privilege, so much access to basic resources like internet and DNA technology. I am strongly of the view, and I lead from example, that we must do more to help bring our biological families with us so their voices can also be heard. Thank you and I look forward to listening to the rest of our presenters and working with the UN Committees into the future.

Almost 50 children from Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia were removed by Belarusian charity, according to Belta

Ukrainian children who had been illegally deported to Russia have arrived in Belarus, where state media published photographs showing them waving Belarusian flags and flanked by riot police.

The 48 children come from the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, which Moscow claims it has annexed.

The Bombay High Court refused to grant interim relief to two “abandoned” young girls seeking directive to the state government to consider granting them reservation in the 1 per cent parallel reservation quota for “orphans” for admissions to undergraduate medical courses.

The two girls had sought reservation pending issuance of “orphan” certificates to them.

The court said if the said relief was granted and if at the final hearing of the plea the court had decided against the petitioners pending their pleas, same would amount to deprive some other orphans of the seats in medical courses in which petitioners were seeking admission.

A division bench of Justices Sunil B Shukre and Firdosh P Pooniwalla was on September 14 hearing a plea by The Nest India Foundation, argued by advocate Abhinav Chandrachud.

Imagine your child being stolen from you. Kidnapped. You do not know where your child is or how he is doing. The pain you live with as a result is inhumane. What you don't know is that the kidnapping is the reason why your child has been adopted to the other side of the world. Decades after the criminal acts took place, you are reunited. Maybe the kidnapping of the child was worth it, as long as the child was okay.

Distasteful wording

What a strange thing to say, you might think. Kidnapping and "worth it". Two things that don't belong together. When I read the NRK article To persons i ein this summer , my stomach twisted. 

The article deals with the case of John Erik Aasheim, who was kidnapped as a child in Colombia and adopted to Norway. Journalist Oddgeir Øystese writes the following towards the end of the article: " John Erik, Jhonatan, has managed to bring together two different lives, two different lives. Was it then for the best that once upon a time he was the chair of his family?" The wording of the question is unmusical, distasteful and objectionable.

 

In a larger context