Tamil Nadu: Denied adoption due to disability at first, couple finally brings baby home

CHENNAI: As a ray of hope to prospective adoptive parents with disabilities, S Velmayil (34) and P Baby (36), a couple with disabilities from Srivaikuntam in Thoothukudi district, adopted a four-month-old baby on Tuesday. The child was assigned to couple after a wait of four years but the adoption committee had recently rejected them, citing disabilities as a reason. TNIE had reported this. The baby was finally brought home after the couple underwent a physical examination and were declared fit.

P Baby, the mother, was at a loss for words to express her happiness. She said the adoption committee has asked them to take care of the baby with the help of Velmayil’s parents and handed over the child by 5 pm.

Both Velmayil and Baby have locomotor disability of 90% and 80% respectively; while it has affected the lower limbs of the former, the latter can’t move her right hand and right leg.

The couple, who got married in 2016, live with Velmayil’s parents. Baby is a noon meal organiser and Velmayil works at a fuel station. They registered to adopt a child in 2020, following which social workers inspected their house twice and cleared all formalities. In June, the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) informed the couple that a specialised adoption agency in Dindigul has assigned them a baby born in March.

However, a five-member adoption committee said the couple would not be able to care for the child, particularly in the first two years of age, due to their physical disabilities. Taking a decades-old disability certificate as basis and without examining them further, an ortho surgeon from Government Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital said the couple was unfit to adopt the child. But the final recommendation from the medical board chairman stated that they could handle the baby.

Following outrage, the medical board of Thoothukudi MCH examined the couple through a team of four doctors and cleared them fit. The adoption was then blocked by CARA.

“But everything has been cleared now. We request the officials to explain the process to other disabled persons who wish to adopt children and make it easier for them,” said Velmayil.