MUMBAI: Every year, roughly 207 newly born children are abandoned (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/abandoned) in

nullahs or cribs outside children’s homes across Maharashtra (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/maharashtra).

The National Crime Records Bureau (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/National-Crime-Records-Bureau) (NCRB

(https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/NCRB))’s latest report shows Maharashtra led other states in the number of

abandoned newborns (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/newborns) between 2011 and 2017. Maharashtra reported

In the 1960s, then 22-year-old Trudy Gertsen gave up her son against her will. Today, she holds the State responsible.

The first big blow came in November 1967. Trudy Gertsen (21) was five months pregnant and unmarried. She had completed her nursing training without telling anyone about her pregnancy. If the nuns with whom the women lived during nursing training had known, she would have been kicked out immediately. She has no doubts about that.

Now she's back with her parents, fully expecting to give birth there. After that, she'll look for a job and a home to raise her son. Her boyfriend, the baby's father, turns out to have another girl. So be it, she thinks, I'll do it alone.

But instead, her mother takes her out for a walk and tells her she has to give up the child. Trudy is not welcome in her childhood home.

Trudy Scheele-Gertsen, now 73, falls silent as she recounts that walk, taking a sip of water. "And home was quite a big house. But it wasn't possible. It was impossible." "I've arranged something for you," her mother said on that autumn day, more than fifty years ago. She sent her daughter to the Paula Foundation in Oosterbeek, a home for unwed mothers.

Tannishtha Chatterjee’s latest film Jhalki, a tribute Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi, was screened in his presence this Saturday. After the screening, the actors from the film — which is about a little girl named Jhalki who leaves home to rescue her younger brother Babu from a carpet-weaving unit — also participated in a round table conference, discussing the subject of the film: Child slavery and bonded labour.

Directed by Brahmanand S Singh and written by Prakash Jha and Kamlesh Kunti Singh, the film has done rounds of festivals like the Singapore South Asian International Film Festival, the Jagran Film Festival, as well as the Cannes Film Festival.

Talking about it, Tannishtha, in an exclusive conversation, says: “I am a single mother who has adopted a girl child and named her Radhika. She’s only been with me for three months, and when I first got her she was quick to question ‘abhi tak kahaan they?’ (Where were you until now?). There is a line in the film where Jhalki asks Boman Irani’s character the same question when they go to save her brother. So the film has been weaved with real incidents, and will remain in my heart always for that reason.”

When asked about her choice to be a single mother, the actress reveals that many people in her life warned her against it. “So many of my friends and relatives too advised me not to choose my freedom by adopting any child, and especially a girl. However, I was contemplating adopting a girl child for a long time. And this time, when my friends tried to remind me about my flourishing career, I simply said that I will manage it even with my daughter. And now I am really happy to be juggling my professional life with looking after her. Of course, it can get difficult, but managing on both the fronts makes me feel very happy,” she smiles.

Tannishtha further reveals that adoption was on her mind way before Jhalki came into the picture. “When I did Lion in 2016, where Saroo gets separated from his family at the age of five and then ends up being adopted, I have been contemplating adopting a girl since then,” she shares.

EXCLUSIVE: Revealed - the Filipino baby and teen mom at center of human trafficking claim: Utah woman posed as newborn's aunt 'to smuggle him to U.S. in her carry-on for Mormon blessing'

Jennifer Talbot, 42, claimed she was the aunt of a six-day-old baby after she was allegedly caught trying to 'smuggle' the child on a flight from Manila to Detroit

She was carrying an affidavit of consent and support from Maicris Dulap, 19, of Mt Diwata, who gave birth to baby Andrew on August 29, on September 4

The document, obtained by DailyMail.com reveals the teen mom stated the child was traveling to the US with his 'aunt' to meet his dying great-grandmother

She also said the baby was to receive a membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and American medical vaccines

Romania has violated the acquis communautaire and European Union law

By

Online Editorial Team

-

09/09/2019

Aboriginal children will be excluded from a plan to boost adoptions of children in state care in South Australia because of cultural sensitivities around the Stolen Generation, the State Government says.

Key points:

The South Australian Government has begun consulting on a plan to increase open adoptions of children in state care

The open adoptions will exclude Aboriginal children

No children have been adopted out of state care in the past five years

Aboriginal children will be excluded from a plan to boost adoptions of children in state care in South Australia because of cultural sensitivities around the Stolen Generation, the State Government says.

Key points:

The South Australian Government has begun consulting on a plan to increase open adoptions of children in state care

The open adoptions will exclude Aboriginal children

No children have been adopted out of state care in the past five years

After losing his parents, Elvis Izabayo, a TV presenter, had no option but to stay in an orphanage.

Though he managed to forge a living, life was never easy growing up in an orphanage.

He recalls being exposed to abuse, exploitation, neglect, and lack of love and care from parents. It was so painful that he lived with these scars for so many years.

“This affected me and some of my other colleagues that even when we left the place, we had to battle emotional and behavioral issues. I was emotionally needy, insecure, and poor,” he recalls.

Five years ago, the Government embarked on a mission to close orphanages and other children’s institutions and reintegrate the children into family-based care.

Amid what appears to be a baby smuggling incident, how does one properly adopt a child? Social Welfare Undersecretary Flor Villar and Attorney Rod Nepomuceno joins us to talk about adoption in the Philippines.

Shareable Link to video: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1w5vd7_lpsYwcszI5ZzXXWcgfa24Cm_sD

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