Illustration: TAPAS RANJANBy Donita JoseExpress News Service
HYDERABAD: Legal adoption in the state has become difficult after the reorganisation of districts. Shishu Gruhas, which facilitate adoption of and support to abandoned and orphaned babies aged below 6 years, are still only 11 in number and all of them are situated at the headquarters of the erstwhile districts. Child welfare experts say that the centres, apart from lacking accessibility, do not have enough staff and facilities, and the way they are operated causes confusion.
These centres are said to be inaccessible to a large chunk of the population. This has resulted in babies landing in illegal trafficking network. Achyutha Rao, a child rights activist of Balala Hakkula Sangham, explained that some parents wishing to abandon their children due to some disability or disease and if they cannot travel to a centre, they would simply end up selling the child to a trafficker.
“It can be very hard for a parent living deep inside a rural area to travel to the Shishu Gruha that is closest to him or her. We have observed that parents simply abandon their child without support or, worse, sell it to a trafficker if this distance is too much of a trouble for them,” he said.
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