Baby given for illegal adoption rescued in Tamil Nadu

MADURAI: The District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) in Kanyakumari and police rescued a one-month-old girl baby after she had been given for illegal adoption by mother.

The rescue became possible due to timely information by a government doctor.

Preliminary inquiries by the DCPU staff and police revealed that the child’s mother resides in a village under the jurisdiction of the Boothapandi police station. The woman aged around 30-years-old has a 12-year-old daughter and her husband was working abroad. She developed an extramarital affair with a man in that locality, resulting in her pregnancy. This resulted in the family distancing themselves from her.

The woman’s husband refused to take care of her when she became pregnant. After the delivery, the man who was the cause of her pregnancy also refused to take care of her. She underwent check-up in the government primary health centre (PHC) where the doctor came to know of her background and alerted the DCPU. DCPU officials gave her counselling and asked her to give her baby for legal adoption if she could not raise it.

On January 19, 2019, the woman gave birth to the baby in the Asaripallam Government Medical College and Hospital in Nagercoil. DCPU officials conducted follow-up checks on January 20 and 28 and found the baby in the possession her mother. On February 21, the PHC staff went to her house on a field visit and found that the baby was not with the mother. This was brought to the notice of the DCPU.

During inquiry with the woman the woman produced a stamp paper saying she has wilfully given her daughter for adoption to a couple from Manavalakurichi area in Kanyakumari district, who did not have children. District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) of Kanyakumari district S Kumuda told TOI that they had told her that this was illegal adoption and conducted inquiries with her.

The child’s mother admitted to giving away the child for monetary benefits and that the couple had also assured to meet the education expenses of her elder daughter. The whereabouts of the baby and the couple who illegally adopted her could not be traced. The DCPU staff lodged a complaint with the Boothapandi and the Manavalakurichi police to register a case and to trace the missing child and couple.