At a panel discussion in Bengaluru by NGO Padme, panelists discussed various aspects of adoption like root search by adoptees and representation in the media.

Take a group of people and ask them for their thoughts on adoption, and chances are at least a few of them will say that adoption is a noble thing to do, that it allows needy children to be saved. At least, these were the responses students of Mount Carmel College got when they did some randomised interviews in Bengaluru a couple of months ago.

These interviews were put together by Padme, a registered non-governmental organisation that works to demystify adoption and guide and support prospective adoptive parents, among other things. On Sunday, Padme organised a panel discussion in Bengaluru which looked at such perceptions around adoption as well as related privacy issues.

The panel consisted of Supriya Deverkonda, an admin of People’s Group of Child Adoption in India (PGCAI); Dr Aloma Lobo, former chairperson of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA); Baradwaj Rangan, senior editor at Film Companion; and Geetika Mantri, a journalist with The News Minute. The panel was moderated by Sharon Lopez of the Dept of Communications, Mount Carmel College.

The panel felt that there was a need for a more child rights centric approach, especially in the media, while dealing with adoption.

The fate of the two Bulgarians adopted in the United States must be decided by mid-September

posted on 26.08.19 at 09:26 Author: Tonya Dimitrova

Parents are accused of child abuse.Photo: www.ky3.com

playmute

00:00 / 08:22

Through her latest book In My Heart, Nandana Dev Sen talks about adoption and love and why every child has a need to know where they came from

Nandana Dev Sen wears many hats – actor, activist, screenwriter, writer and recently, a mother. She adopted a girl child and is as happy as she has ever been. Her most recent book, In My Heart, also talks about adoption, and in the most intimate and sensitive way possible. The book is about Mia and her quest to discover her 'tummy mummy' — her biological mother. And what does she find? Read the book to find out! Here's a conversation we had with Sen that should convince you to grab this book. Excerpts:

The book wonderfully describes adoption to a young mind. How and when did you think of writing this book?

I’d been thinking for a long time – in fact, for as long as I’ve been working with children, many of whom were institutionalised, displaced or homeless – about how much we need a gentle children’s book about adoption. We know that loving homes could transform thousands of young lives in India, yet adoption is rarely addressed either in our books for kids or our mainstream media. In My Heart addresses questions that every adopted child is bound to ask about her/ his birth mother – I’ve witnessed them being raised by adopted kids within my own circle of friends and family, long before I became an adoptive mum. Going through the process myself made the topic even more emergent, of course.

Nowadays, more and more people are adopting, or at least want to adopt, and don't want to have a child of their own. What do you think of this trend?

By mid-September, the fate of two US-adopted Bulgarians who were removed from their family and protected by the Missouri Department of Children and Family Affairs must be decided. What will happen to the two girls will be decided by the US court, with the first hearing scheduled for September 6, 2019.

The case is a precedent for the Bulgarian institutions.

"She was dirty, not well dressed, she had no shoes. She ate two peanut butter sandwiches and a few packets of chips in a hurry and continued to ask for more food." Sheriff Darin Braulley's story from Shannon County, Missouri, about his first date with one of the two twins. She is found by a neighbor on a dirt road not far from the house of the McGregor family, with greasy hair, scarring and bleeding feet, thirsty and hungry. The girl and his sister live with the 8 children of 56-year-old Mark Magregor and his 40-year-old wife Melissa. The two Bulgarians are kept in a dark room for hours, they are allowed to use pillows only with good behavior, they eat mostly raw vegetables, they were hit with kitchen utensils in front of their biological children, they had to ask for permission to bathe and dress. There is no such attitude towards biological children. Two charges have been filed against Mark and Melissa McGregor, leading to a sentence of 5 to 15 years in prison. The couple is currently under $ 100,000 bail. And Bulgarian girls aged 14 with initials R. and K. are placed in a home for children deprived of parental care.

"The children themselves have an appointed guardian from the state of Missouri, that is, a person who directly cares for their rights and interests," said our consul in Chicago, Ivan Anchev. He met with them and said that the children were calm and feeling well:

"The conversation was entirely in English. From the very beginning, I asked them how they wanted to talk - in Bulgarian or English, and they preferred English, so this testifies to the level of adaptation of the children in the local environment."

Cuttack: Dealing with the case of a mother who had allegedly given away her child to a couple but now wants it back, the

Orissa high court has said biological parents are the most fit to raise a child and ordered the handing over of the three-year-old

girl to the birth mother within a week.

“In our land, parents hold a preferred position for children below five years. For that, there is a presumption that the parents are

the most fit and proper person to raise the child,” a bench of justice S K Mishra and justice A K Mishra said in its August 19

According to the police, D Vijayalakshmi (30), who eked out a living by begging near the Secunderabad Railway Station, allegedly sold her son, Akhil, due to poverty

Hyderabad: A 10-month-old baby boy, who was sold by his own mother for Rs 60,000, was rescued by the LB Nagar police and shifted to Shishu Vihar. The mother, who cooked up a kidnap story and even staged an accident to mislead the police, was arrested along with the man who ‘purchased’ the baby.

According to the police, D Vijayalakshmi (30), who eked out a living by begging near the Secunderabad Railway Station, allegedly sold her son, Akhil, due to poverty. She then lodged a complaint with the police stating that an unidentified couple kidnapped Akhil at Gunti Jangaiah Colony in LB Nagar.

She said the couple, who came on a scooter, hit her. When she fell unconscious, they picked up Akhil and fled, she alleged. The police, who collected surveillance camera footage from the spot, identified the registration number of the scooter and tracked down the vehicle owner, Oraganti Mosha — a pushcart vendor from Chatanpally in Farooq Nagar of Ranga Reddy district.

The police arrested Mosha, and during questioning, he confessed that Vijayalakshmi actually sold the baby to him. He also said that the accident scene was staged. “He confessed to have purchased the infant from Vijayalakshmi for Rs 60,000 in Shadnagar recently. When we questioned the mother, she too confessed to selling the child due to poverty,” police said, adding that the woman approached other people in Shadnagar as well to sell the child. But, she struck a deal with Mosha.

Keep an eye on SBS' discussion program Insight some time in October, when the issue of adults who were adopted from foreign countries as children will be examined, including the story of Canberra man Rohan Samara.

Rohan first spoke to The Canberra Times about his life experience back in mid-2017. He was just three-month-old and malnourished when he was brought to Australia from Vietnam in a cardboard box in 1975 as part of Operation Babylift, in the dying days of the Vietnam war.

Rohan was adopted by an Australian couple, grew up in a loving family and thrived in Canberra, where he is a fire safety officer at The Canberra Hospital and a well-known community figure through his volunteer work with the rural fire service, Burns Club board and as chair of body corporate of the 355-unit Southport complex in Greenway.

Yet, Rohan still wanted to learn about his birth parents and is still searching for the answers. Insight gave him some pause to think, again, about his adoption story and how he was the same - and very different - to the other adoptees.

"When Insight made a call-out via their social media and my friend suggested I should make contact," Rohan said.

BENGALURU: At 237, Karnataka recorded the second highest number of children being given away for in-country adoption

(https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/adoption) during 2018-19. Maharashtra

(https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/maharashtra) leads the list with 695 children.

The national trend of girl children outnumbering boys was reflected in Karnataka too: 130 girls as against 107 boys. Of the 3,374

children adopted across the country, 1,977 were girls and 1,397 boys.

The matter came to light after the victim approached police to lodge a rape complaint against her uncle

In a bid to avoid social harassment, parents of a 19-year-old rape victim gave away her newborn son to a sanitary worker at civil hospital here, said police on Saturday.

The matter came to light after the victim approached the police to lodge an FIR against the sexual assault. In her complaint, she alleged that her uncle (father’s younger brother) had raped her on multiple occasions.

ACCUSED?HAD?BEEN?

THREATENING?HER

On the run since July when the racket was busted, Pawan Kumar Sharma (42) was arrested from the national capital on Thursday, DCP Akbar Pathan said

A key accused in the inter-state child trafficking racket was arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch from Delhi and brought to Mumbai on Friday.

On the run since July when the racket was busted, Pawan Kumar Sharma (42) was arrested from the national capital on Thursday, DCP Akbar Pathan said. He added that Sharma was sent to police custody till August 28 by a local court after he was brought to Mumbai on Friday.

According to police, Sharma ran fertility centres in Delhi and Bengaluru and had been at the centre of the racket, connecting other accused, including surrogate mothers, nurses, the biological parents who allegedly sold their children, and couples who allegedly purchased them.

“He was well acquainted with the supply and demand (for children) owing to the waiting period for adoption of children. Through other co-accused, Sharma managed to get in touch with women who had been surrogates and lured them into the racket. He also had access to childless couples,” a senior police officer probing the case said.