Adoption of Rescued Children: Foster Parents Decry Attitude of Child Welfare Panel

Student unions demand that children be handed over to the adopted parents

Hyderabad: Foster parents, who adopted nine of the 16 rescued children in May and are engaged in a legal battle to claim rights to meet their children at Sishu Vihar, have now decided to take on the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), which they blame for the turbulence they have been undergoing for the last six months.

Many of those foster parents met representatives of Telangana Samag Student Unions and other student unions on Wednesday. They had stood in their support seeking justice and getting back their children as per the directions of the High Court.

They met the media for the time. They included Karri Deavendra and his wife Durgabhavani; Dasari Anil Kumar and his wife Bezawads Sathitya; B. Santosh and his wife B. Jagdeshaari; and Sowala Mallesh and his wife Sawalla Sruthi, who all either belong to Telangana or Andhra Pradesh.

They took exception to not being given an opportunity to meet the children at Sishu Vihar, where they are presently put up.

Despite High Court orders, CWC officials have remained defiant. They said that they were oblivious of the fact that their adoption was not legal and that

they had been conned by traffickers, who had issued forged adoption certificates.

The court had directed CWC to look into the status of the biological parents vis-à-vis foster parents as regards claims over children.

According to advocate Kypa Satish Kumar, "The court emphasizes the urgency and importance of adhering to proper legal procedures in matters of child custody and adoption. It emphasizes the need for social investigations to ensure children's safety. The Court's decision balances the interests of adoptive parents and biological parents and child welfare.

Vinay Viplav, state president of Telangana Samaj Student Union and other student leaders interacted with the foster parents at a gathering in the city on Wednesday after the latter complained that CWC authorities were ignoring their requests and they had now stopped them from coming to their office.

The student leaders demanded a full-fledged inquiry into the entire issue and that the children be returned to the adopted parents if they are found eligible as per the judgment given by the High Court.