Adoption must follow a legal process
There have been posts about children who have lost both parents to COVID and are therefore up for adoption, with a number to contact if anyone wants to adopt.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY ILLEGAL.
If you know of any such cases of children orphaned or semi-orphaned due to COVID, please contact Childline by calling 1098. Their social workers will get in touch and know what to do.
If you want to adopt a child who has been orphaned because of COVID, please contact CARA (Central Adoption Resource Authority under Ministry of Women & Child Development), and go through the due process for adoption. (http://cara.nic.in)
If you know of anyone who has either "adopted" a child or is putting a child up for "adoption" without involving CARA, please immediately inform Childline by calling 1098.
Due legal process must always be followed in case of adoptions.
Taking home a child, even with the knowledge/ consent of family members and/ or neighbours is ILLEGAL.
Even if the people concerned are not prosecuted now, they and the child will run into many legal barriers as the child grows up and starts needing legal documents.
All of us want to see the orphaned children resettled in homes where they will be loved. We want to give them affection and help them forget the trauma.
We may think that the legal route takes too long. But the legal route exists for the protection of the child.
If you take a look at the replies to these posts, you see a lot of men wanting to see photographs of the girl children.
Children are not clothes that you need to try out before buying. That men ask for photographs tells you exactly what is on their mind.
Before any adoption sufficient due diligence is done to ensure that 'adoption' is not a cover for child trafficking or for harvesting internal organs.
The adoption agency also needs to be convinced that the family is mentally and financially in a position to provide a home for the adopted child.
Legal issues pertaining to the property belonging to the parents of the children also need to be sorted out before the children are put up for adoption.
All of this takes time. All of it requires official agencies.
So, if you find any posts relating to adoption of orphaned children, please immediately request the person to take the post down, and bring the case to the notice of Childline by calling 1098.
To sum up, if you find a child who is in need of care, please call Childline at 1098 and co-operate with their social workers.
For adoption, please get in touch with CARA http://cara.nic.in
Let COVID not become a Child Rights Crisis also.
