‘We wanted to adopt a Down syndrome baby,’ say first Indian couple to do so

Even before she was married, Kavita Baluni Kaktwan knew she wanted to be a mother to a baby girl. But this child would not be a biological one. She wanted to adopt and give her a home and all the joy in the world.

When four-year-old Veda Baluni Kaktwan’s parents got married in 2012, little did they know that she would change their lives, and make them “the happiest parents in the world”. In 2017, when she entered their lives at 16 months of age, Veda made them the first Indian couple to have adopted a baby with Down syndrome. Three years later, as the family celebrates the adoption anniversary on May 30, Kavita talks to indianexpress.com about the journey.

“Adoption was a dream of mine, ever since I was a teenager. I was not interested in having a biological child. This is something I had told my husband before marriage. He was always a feminist, and I knew it when I met him through an arranged marriage setup that we are not going to be an ordinary couple and there is a reason that we have met. When I told him of my plans, he asked for three days to process it. And then he said there is absolutely nothing wrong with the plan; he was game. He said when we do adopt a child in the future, it was going to be a baby girl,” recalls the Ghaziabad resident.