Was duped by NGO staffer: Official

Gokul Vannan

Express News Service

First Published : 23 Jun 2010 03:16:02 AM IST

Last Updated : 23 Jun 2010 07:27:42 AM IST

CHENNAI: With the busting of the illegal child adoption racket, the Guild of Service (GoS), an NGO, has found itself in the news for all the wrong reasons, for social worker Shaila Samuel, working with it, used the children's home inmates to give them up for adoption through unlawful means.

She used the agency's name, stamp, other related documents, such as authorisation letters and the NGO's registration certificate to carry out her work.

K N George, honorary secretary of the NGO, has given in writing to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) that Shaila had carried out all the activities without his knowledge.

The senior officer of the Social Welfare Department, who illegally adopted Sweety, claimed that it was Shaila who had cheated saying that all documents for adoption had been cleared, according to Manorama, chairperson of CWC, Chennai.

Four children who had gone missing from the GoS had been put up at children's homes following referrals by the Sheela Hospital, where Parveen Banu had given birth to her child, Sweety. The NGO's involvement in the racket was unearthed after the CWC found out that Sweety had been illegally put up for adoption after duping her parents. The four were routed through Salem Missionaries of Charities and Cheshire Homes of India at Thiruvanmiyur and later to the GoS.

In Sweety's case, the hospital has given the wrong diagnosis to the parents in 2005 saying their baby suffered from an incurable ailment and would die soon after birth. The hospital had even obtained release forms from them, in which they stated they were willingly giving their child up for adoption.

However, five years later, Sweety is still healthy. In the other two cases, the hospital had failed to provide proper details such as the parents' address to a probation officer of the CWC, Coimbatore, said Manomara.

Shaila had cheated two other women in another case gave their children for adoption without the committee's knowledge, she said, adding, "We suspect Shaila has links with NGOs and the hospital in Coimbatore." Manorama said the committee had referred the case to the city police

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