Illegal adoption: Kasaragod woman forced to give up child after health workers visit biological mother

Kasaragod: A childless woman who illegally adopted a newborn boy and raised him as her own for four months had to give him up after an Anganwadi worker and an ASHA visited the biological mother’s house and found the baby missing. It was a harrowing day for the adoptive mother in her mid-50s, clutching the child to her chest, sobbing, begging not to be separated, threatening to end her life, first before the police and then before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

She was inconsolable, shattered, while the biological mother stood indifferent, refusing to take the child back, said a CWC official. By evening, the boy was “rescued” and handed over to a foundling home in Kasaragod, in line with the law, but crossing a woman’s maternal love. “I don’t know how she will sleep tonight. The baby was bonding well with her,” said the official, who found the day equally traumatic.

The woman told the CWC that she had turned to illegal adoption after her formal application to adopt a child was rejected, citing that she was financially unfit. She is a homemaker; her husband is a daily wage labourer. In 2015, the Kerala government introduced a rule requiring prospective adoptive parents to have an annual income of at least ₹3 lakh. Even those who meet the income requirement, officials say, can later be deemed ineligible during a social investigation for the same reason. “The rule is discriminatory irrespective of its intent. Nowhere else in India does such a financial cap exist,” said the CWC official.

The woman’s secret began to crumble when the Anganwadi worker, responsible for the health, nutrition, and well-being of pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children under six, visited the house of the biological mother near Kumbla, 12 km from Kasaragod town. When she enquired about the child, the woman fumbled and avoided giving a clear answer. Sensing something amiss, the Anganwadi worker alerted the local ASHA and together they approached the Kumbla police.

During questioning, the mother confessed. Her first husband had died, leaving her with two children. Later, she married a man who already had a wife and children and worked in a restaurant in Bengaluru. Four months ago, she gave birth to a boy. “In the first week itself, the child was handed over to the other woman. They must have come to an understanding even before the birth,” said the CWC official.

When the police reached the house in Neerchal, near Kasaragod, the woman who had been raising the baby refused to let go of him and threatened to end her life if he was taken away. She was then called to the police station, where the biological mother was also present. “Both women said no money had changed hands,” said a police officer.

Kumbla police then produced both women and the child before the CWC in Kasaragod. “The boy was smiling and recognised her as the mother,” said the official, referring to the woman who had been raising him. “I only wanted to raise him,” the adoptive woman pleaded. But the law saw it differently.

Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, no one, not even a biological parent, can hand over her child to anyone, outside the formal adoption process. Section 80 of the Act makes it an offence to give or receive a child for adoption without following legal procedures, punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of ₹1 lakh, or both.

Section 81 goes further, criminalising the sale or procurement of a child for any purpose, with punishment of up to five years in prison and a ₹1 lakh fine. Only the CWC and the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) are empowered to authorise adoptions. “We reasoned with her till 6 pm to part with the child. Since the biological mother showed no interest, the government had to place him in an institution.”

Social intervention and interference The official said what both women did was illegal and praised the Anganwadi worker and ASHA for their timely intervention. Yet, he recalled another case that showed the thin line between social responsibility and intrusion. In Kasaragod’s Pilicode panchayat earlier this month, neighbours alerted police after seeing an infant with a middle-aged woman in Vadakkeppuram.

The biological mother, a woman in her late 40s, had given birth to a child out of wedlock with her boyfriend in his 20s. With her daughter’s wedding approaching, she asked her domestic help to care for the baby temporarily. “They had no intention of giving up the child. The birth certificate listed her and her boyfriend as the parents, not her husband. They are from Kannur and well off,” the official said.

After the neighbours interfered and the issue snowballed, the woman and her boyfriend appeared before the Chandera police station, retrieved the baby, and have since moved into a rented apartment together. “They are now living happily with the child,” said the official. He added that in Kasaragod, several illegal adoptions go unreported, especially when the adoptive families are affluent. “Some keep the biological mothers as domestic workers in their homes. So when we check, the mother and child are together, but in reality, she’s the maid, and they are the parents,” he said.

When asked whether the woman from Neerchal had any chance of legally adopting the boy now placed in a foundling home, the CWC official said the chances were nil. “If the biological mother does not claim him within three months, the child will be put up for adoption through CARA,” he said.