Nagpur: Any person sympathetically taking part in adoption of orphans, whether the parents died due to Covid or otherwise,

may face serious legal implications if the norms are not followed. Any adoption without a court order is bracketed as a ‘crime’

under at least three different laws.The latest advisory has been issued by the Maharashtra State Child Protection Society,

operating under the women and child development department, alerting against participating in any adoption through

messages seeking support or shelter for Covid orphans.

Being a mother is not just a relation but an emotion. This Mother’s Day we got in touch with Bollywood choreographer, Shabina Khan, who is currently in news for her latest work, ‘Dil De Diya’ from Radhe. The idea was to shift the limelight from her personal achievements to something she seldom speaks about: her personal life, motherhood and adoption. Excerpts from the interview:

Adoption is a great choice but our society still has inhibitions about it. When you were making the decision, did this bother you?

Everybody knows that a good deed, is a good deed. But not everyone has the courage to do it. I was very young around 9–10-year-old when I told my mother that I will adopt 5 girls. The reason behind the number was that we're five siblings, so I always told her that I'll adopt 5 girls. My mother asked me if I don't want my kids. To which I replied: I want my kids, but that shouldn't stop me from adopting. That's a different thing. I'll have my child, with my adopted babies and will raise them equally. This is a true symbol of humanity.

I met lot of people who believe in adoption. I've also seen families who are blessed with a child after an adoption, and they raise both kids equally. After I adopted my first baby, the joy that she brought to us was hard to describe in words. At the same time, me and my husband both felt that we had so much more love to give, and wanted to give a family to another child. That's when we adopted my son. My two kids now share an unbreakable sibling bond, and are the pride and joy of our lives.

What is that one message you would like to give it to people who want to adopt?

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In the midst of cries for oxygen, hospital beds and emergency drugs on social media, a desperate appeal that stopped people in their thumb scrolling tracks a fortnight ago was a message urging families to adopt two girls — one aged three days and another six months — with the claim that they had lost their parents recently to Covid. “Please help these kids get a new life, spread the word,” urged the post that quickly went viral.

Such emotional pleas for adoption of children orphaned by the virus have surfaced over the past few days. And though these forwards may be well intentioned, the request is unlawful and could even put a child in danger of being sold or trafficked.

The investigation into forced adoption between 1956 and 1984 has ended in painful embarrassment. The advocate of the Dutch Distance Mother Foundation has stated its confidence in the investigation led by the outgoing Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker.

Dekker admitted last summer that mistakes had been made in the investigation and apologized for this. Stories of children and parents who have had to deal with forced adoption turned out not to be safe at the 'registration point' that was set up for them. A committee was set up to see what went wrong, but now that the mothers have not heard anything for months, the measure is full for them. The DNA Foundation is even pushing for a parliamentary inquiry to expose the errors.

Researchers estimate that it concerns about 15,000 Dutch children who were handed over to an adoptive family during this period. This often happened under great pressure, for example because their mothers were not married or were still minors. Committing an abortion was not an option at the time.

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On Friday, a newborn girl was found abandoned at 146B, Jain housing society in Sion. Soon after the police were informed, the baby was rushed to the Lokmanya Tilak hospital in Sion.

A local social worker, Chirag Shah, alerted the police who registered an offence against an unknown person for abandoning their baby. The baby has been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital for precaution and is healthy.

Shah, who runs the Sion Welfare Forum and Wadala Citizen Forum, informed that around 2 PM, his friend and a resident of the Jain society, alerted him about the baby. They then alerted the police and checked out CCTV footage which showed them that a lady left the little girl behind.

The baby's diaper indicated that it was born at the Sion Hospital. The police has reached out to the parents of all the babies delivered at Sion Hospital around a week ago. One set of parents, however, are untraceable. The police are currently tracing their location.

The baby's image has also been shared to the neighbouring police stations in order to find out the parents as soon as possible.

As COVID-19 has ravaged our nation, it has been particularly heart-wrenching to read stories about children who have become orphans, losing both parents to the disease. It’s impossible to know exactly how many are affected. Official numbers indicate we have lost more than 2.4 lakh people to COVID, with real numbers expected to be much higher. We can safely estimate that many thousands of young children have lost one or more caregivers, and the remaining family members may not be ready or capable to take them in.

Desperate WhatsApp messages have been doing the rounds, telling horror stories of young children left to fend for themselves and advertising children for ‘adoption’. While surely those who forwarded the messages meant well, every single one of us must know that it is irresponsible and illegal to offer or receive children in this way. In fact, such orphaned children are more susceptible, now more than ever, to land in the traps of traffickers or criminals as people scramble to ‘help’ without following proper processes.

It is a common misperception that child shelters are a better option to care for an orphaned child. While it is true many child shelters do a good job of taking care of kids in need, it is also a sad fact that most of them will never assess the children under their care for adoption. Where Are India’s Children conducted a survey in 2019-2020, and found that most shelters keep the children indefinitely, surviving on donations from the public until they are old enough to fend for themselves. While this fate is better than being abandoned on the streets, the child does not receive the same care, attention and sense of belonging that parents can give, has less chances of a good education and a stable future, and can be susceptible to abuse and trafficking. The shelters are also suffering during COVID, with workers not able to attend to the children and donations on the wane.

We must help orphans who don’t have relatives able or willing to take care of them to reach a legal adoptive ‘forever family’ instead, which is much more sustainable and provides permanent rehabilitation for children.

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Parents who have adopted children from India have appealed for compassion, understanding and support after the tragic story of a Maltese man who contracted COVID-19 as he went to pick up his newly-adopted daughter from New Delhi and died just before he was medically evacuated to Malta.

“What people don’t understand is that we go to pick up our children. The pandemic will not stop us. If anything, it will make you want to get your child home safely. They say you will go to hell and back for your children. A pandemic won’t stop a parent,” Nicolette Borg Vassallo says.

India is facing a human catastrophe as COVID-19 spirals out of control, leaving hospitals unable to cope amid a shortage of oxygen concentrators. The country remains a popular country for child adoption.

Borg Vassallo and her family made the headlines in May last year when their trip to India to pick up their second adoptive daughter turned into a nightmare as the pandemic forced them into lockdown in a hotel room for six interminable weeks. They eventually returned to Malta where they have settled down, a different fate to the Barbara family.

She understands the urgency that Ivan Barbara and his wife felt to pick up their child and attributes critical comments from the public – claiming the couple should have stayed in Malta – to ignorance about the realities faced by adoptive parents.

In 20 countries, children and young people are said to have experienced abuse in SOS Children's Village Aid facilities. An independent commission is to clarify the incidents.

Vienna - “In an atmosphere of trust and reliability”, children and young people should grow up in SOS Children's Villages. At least that's what it says on the organization's website. In 20 countries in Asia and Africa, young people are said to have become victims of violence and sexual abuse in institutions and projects. The aid organization made the child protection violations public on Thursday in Austria and set up an independent commission to deal with the incidents. According to its own information, indications of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds should also be investigated.

At first it was not known exactly which countries are involved. The sub-organization in Germany announced in a press release on Thursday that there were also allegations against employees of a facility in Bavaria . These relate to incidents in the 2000s. A work-up has been initiated. "The information available as well as the results from the first discussions that have already taken place show that there have been serious incidents of educational misconduct and allegations of abuse," explains Prof. Keupp, who is leading the investigation. Results are planned for autumn 2021.

SOS Children's Villages apologize to alleged victims of abuse

The number of victims is said to be rather small worldwide. The managing director of SOS Children's Villages in Austria, Elisabeth Hauser, spoke of "serious misconduct by employees and serious allegations". The children concerned had been "inflicted violence", it had come "to mistreatment up to sexual abuse ". Hauser assured a "relentless and transparent processing" of the incidents.

Becoming a mother in corona time, these women went through it. There was no question of maternity parties or a procession of admirers. 'Window visit is very memorable.'

'The world became smaller, so we came together more'

Thessa Sepers (41) from Uithoorn has been the mother of adopted son Ian (almost 1) since July.

For eleven years, Thessa Sepers (41) has a great wish: to become a mother. Unfortunately, that does not happen automatically. “We soon ended up in the medical mill. We felt that hospital visits should not get the upper hand and we decided that we would like to adopt. ”

The adoption process also turns out to be complicated; several adoptions fail. "We have redesigned the nursery three times." A phone call in May last year changes everything: a baby was born in the United States in need of adoptive parents. The biological mother is given a choice from the files of three adoptive parents and chooses the couple from Uithoorn.