Unwed mother leaves day-old boy to child panel’s care
GHAZIABAD: Child Welfare Committee (CWC) officials took a day-old baby boy into custody on Wednesday after his mother, a 19-year-old woman, said she could not keep him as she is unmarried. The woman submitted an affidavit to CWC requesting them to take custody of her son whom she delivered at a private hospital in Nandgram on Tuesday. Following her request, CWC member Shalini Singh directed officials concerned to take the custody of the child and ensure his rehabilitation.
“The administrator of St Joseph’s Hospital in Mariam Nagar on Tuesday evening called us to inform that a 19-year-old woman who gave birth to a healthy boy has requested us to take custody of the child as she cannot keep him because she is not married” said Shalini Singh, CWC member. “She gave an affidavit in the presence of her mother in which she stated that she is leaving her child in the hospital and requested us to ensure his safety and rehabilitation and that she will not lay a claim on him in the future.”
Singh then wrote a letter to child welfare officer and others to initiate proceedings to take the custody of the child. “I personally visited the hospital and after due paperwork the custody of the child was handed over to us and he has been sent to the Women’s Hospital” said Jitender Kumar, child welfare officer. “Our first priority is to ensure the well being of the child and afterwards he will be shifted to the orphanage. We may set him up for adoption in the future,” he added.
Kumar also said that under the provisions of Juvenile Justice Act, the administration takes the custody of child who will be technically treated as ‘abandoned.’
Sister Edina of St Joseph’s Hospital in Mariamnagar in Nandgram said, “On Tuesday afternoon this woman who was in the advanced stage of pregnancy was admitted to our hospital. She went into labour by the evening and delivered a healthy male child. After she was stabilised she requested an audience with me and when I met her she told me that she did not want to keep the child as she is unmarried.”
The woman was accompanied by her mother who too insisted that they were not willing to take the child with them. “I tried to convince them but they were unrelenting,” said Sister Edina. “On enquiring about the the father of the child, the woman told me that she had been cheated and he had abandoned them.”
The woman and her mother left on Wednesday morning after submitting the affidavit. According to Sister Edna, they left behind an address and phone number but it is vague and it would be difficult to trace them.
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