17 orphans suffer silently as adoptions halt at Preet Mandir
17 orphans suffer silently as adoptions halt at Preet Mandir
Source: DNA | Last Updated 04:09(28/09/10)Comment | Share
Pune: Seventeen innocent children from the Preet Mandir adoption agency here and their prospective adoptive parents have become the traumatic victims of legal complications over the past four months.
Ranging in ages from 1 to 11 years, the adoption procedures of these children by foreign couples have come to a standstill.
The complications began after May 20 when the Central Adoption Resource Authority (Cara), the government's apex body on adoption issues, revoked Preet Mandir's inter-country adoption licence in response to the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) probe into the alleged malpractices at the agency.
While adoption experts say that such delays can have an emotionally disastrous impact on these children, some of the couples whose adoption applications have been held up have also written in anguish about their cases.
City-based adoption expert Jyoti Ronghe told DNA she has received emails from some of the adoptive parents expressing agony over the delays. "A couple from Canada, who wishes to adopt a one-year old girl from Preet Mandir, has said that they have written to Cara urging them to issue the NOC (no objection certificate) for their daughter and other children," Ronghe said.
Cara has refused to issue the NOC for these 17 cases, even though it had received the official papers for inter-country adoption before it revoked the licence.
Cara has said that it can proceed with the adoption procedures if the 17 children are moved to another institution. But they cannot be legally moved because of the Bombay high court's order against the transfer of children.
When told of this situation, the Canadian couple expressed anguish and said in a mail that moving the children out of Preet Mandir would be traumatic for the child. They pointed out that the children have bonded with their caregivers and are comfortable in their present surroundings.
Ronghe said the older children suffer more because they are mentally prepared to settle into a family once the adoption process begins.
"Shifting them to a new agency and starting the adoption process all over again would add to emotional insecurity among them. It is advisable that the cases in the pipeline are cleared. The paperwork is causing unnecessary trauma for the children and adoptive parents," she said.
Citing some heart-rending cases of families suffering due to the legal delays, an Italian adoption agency, Ibambini said in a mail: "The children have no chance to speak. Theirs is a silent scream that goes unheard in busy, noisy halls of justice where people are just pieces of paper. We can only hope that their mute cry for help will be heard in the small hours of the night by anyone and everyone with a conscience."