"Take This Child": Why Women Abandon Their Infants in Bangladesh
1999
"Take This Child": Why Women Abandon Their Infants in Bangladesh
Journal article by Margot Wilson; Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Vol. 30, 1999
Journal Article Excerpt
"Take This Child": Why Women Abandon Their Infants in Bangladesh by MARGOT WILSON
MARGOT WILSON [*] INTRODUCTION On Friday, a young woman came to the gate. She appeared to be no more than 16 years old. Her feet were bare and her sari was torn and very dirty. She handed an equally tattered bundle to the social worker and said, "Take this child. I can't manage her any more. She will die if you don't take her." (Field journal, Centre for the Training and Rehabilitation of Destitute Women, Bangladesh 1992) The abandonment of children is by no means a recent development. Abandonment is, in fact, an ancient strategy as demonstrated in the social histories of Western Europe (Boswell 1988), England (Fairchilds 1984, Rose 1986), France (Fuchs 1984, Litchfield and Gordon 1980, Maza 1983), Russia (Ransel 1978, 1988), and Spain (Sherwood 1988). Even as recently as the 1950s abandoned children were brought from foundling homes in Britain to the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Rhodesia to work as labourers on family farms [1] (Bean and Melville 1990, see also Harrison 1979, McClure 1981, Wagner 1982). More recently, Gulati et al. (1977) have described an "orphanage-cum-rescue home" operating in Goa where Indian women routinely abandon their infants born out of wedlock. Ait-Zai (1989) has shown that women in Algeria often give up or kill out of wedlock children due to the disgrace such a birth brings on the family. Thus, abandonment is restricted neither geographically nor temporally to modem-day Bangladesh. Nevertheless, little detailed information is available regarding the reasons why mothers choose to abandon their infants. In response to this dearth of information, this study provides an in depth analysis of the decision processes of abandoning mothers and families. The data were collected from the Centre for Training and Rehabilitation of Destitute Women (CTRDW), a shelter for abandoned women and children located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Akanda(1981) has described the situation of abandoned children in state institutions in Bangladesh generally. She recommends the placement of these children in permanent homes but discusses numerous difficulties inherent in their "adoption." Among these difficulties are illegitimacy, poverty and "unknown origin" of the child. Chowdhury and Shamim (1994) have written specifically about the CTRDW program. They review primarily those aspects of the CTRDW programme related to the abandonment of children and permanent fosterage. Their discussion of the "reasons" why women abandon their children is confined to a single table from which they conclude, "economic reasons are inseparable from the social ones in most of the cases of abandonment" (Chowdhury and Shamim: 51-53). The discussion that follows moves beyond the work of Chowdhury and Shamim to provide a detailed analysis of the circumstances under which families, and in particular newly parturient mothers, choose to abandon their infants to the CTRDW. In the following sections, "reasons" for the abandonment as given by the relinquishing mothers are discussed. Many of these "reasons" are related and overlap. They describe two alternative paths to abandonment for children depending on the marital status of their mothers. The paper begins with a description of the CTRDW and the client population followed by a discussion of the methods used in this study. The ways in which individuals become detached from their families are discussed along with how abandonment is related to the positioning of women within kin systems and the broader society. Similarly, the impact of poverty on family dynamics, the ways in which attitudes surrounding abandonment are culturally constructed and how economic constraints influence the decision-mak ing of mothers and families who abandon their infants is discussed. CTRDW The CTRDW is a shelter for abandoned women and children located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Situated near to several long-established slum areas, the CTRDW draws the majority of its clientele from the lowest economic classes. Accordingly, the data presented here reflect the experiences of poor women and children and do not attempt to portray the situation of women in other circumstances. The primary focus of the CTRDW programme is providing support and shelter to abandoned pregnant women. The care and placement in permanent foster homes of the abandoned infants of these women is a concomitant concern. Programme supports include a residence for women and children, an intensive care unit, a 24 hour day care centre, and life skills and income generating training. [2] The CTRDW opened its doors in December 1981. The data presented here cover the 8 year period from its inception up to and including January l989. ... |