Put up for adoption: Abandoned by father, Covid twins find a happy family

The first child was brought to the child protection unit in June and the second child, after she was declared physically and discharged from the hospital, in July last year.

After losing their mother to Covid-19 minutes after their birth and then their father a few months later who refused to take care of them, two newborn girls saw another ray of hope after they were both adopted by a financially able couple.

It was in the middle of the second wave of the pandemic in June last year when a woman in labour tested positive for Covid-19, according to sources in Chandigarh’s child protection unit. Right after she gave birth to twins, she died

from the infection.

“One of the twins was slightly underweight and was kept under observation in the hospital; the second child was handed over to the father. He took the child home and then told the child protection unit that he could raise the child because he was a daily wager and cannot afford to raise her. He also said that since his wife was no more and he was alone, he didn’t want the child,” an official stated after a post-adoption follow-up.

The first child was brought to the child protection unit in June and the second child, after she was declared physically and discharged from the hospital, in July last year. The father was given sixty days to reconsider his decision; when he did not reply or visit the children to take custody, they were registered for adoption.

The adoption process in Chandigarh is done by the District Child Protection Unit through a web portal of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), which is a statutory body of the Ministry of Women and Child Development since 2014-15.

The couple were looking to adopt siblings and through the portal completed the formalities to adopt the twins.

CARA is a certified portal for adoption and it functions as the nodal body for the adoption of children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.