45 years in the business of hope: Sofosh, the home for abandoned infants
The police handed over all the abandoned newborns to the Society of Friends of the Sassoon Hospitals (Sofosh), a voluntary charitable trust, working for such abandoned children
On January 14, when twin newborns wrapped in a blanket were spotted near the Pashan lake by morning walkers, police swung into action and arrested the parents who abandoned the infants on January 22.
While the police were able to locate the parents in this case, there are 35 other cases registered at various police stations where no progress has been made.
According to statistics provided by Pune police, 14 newborns were found in 2017; six in 2018 and 15 during 2019.
The police handed over all the abandoned newborns to the Society of Friends of the Sassoon Hospitals (Sofosh), a voluntary charitable trust, working for such abandoned children.
Sofosh has been working endlessly for the past 45 years. A total of 573 infants were admitted to the centre in the past 10 years.
Since its inception, at least 726 infants (329 boys and 397 girls) were given up for adoption by Sofosh.
Sharmila Sayed, administration incharge of Sofosh, said, “We regularly come across cases where babies are abandoned by couples on city roads and even in dustbins. Later on, they are brought to the centre at Sassoon Hospital by people who spot them or by the police. It is wrong and illegal to abandon babies on the roads it is also risky for their lives.”
“There are organisations like Sofosh who take custody of children if a couple doesn’t want to take care of the baby. The identity of the couple is kept secret, ” said Sayed. The centre takes care of infants from birth up to the age of six.
“We always counsel the couple who willingly come to admit their baby at our centre and in the past one year we have been successful in convincing eight such couples to take back their babies,” said Sayed.
We take the custody of the infant on legal grounds and almost all of them are given up for adoption, added Sayed.
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