BENGALURU: Even if the police are unable to track down the parents of abandoned children, there are other ways to ensure that the child has a decent future, according to Tanusree Deb Barma, the Director of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme for Karnataka.
The bureaucrat, who has been given additional charge of the ICPS, suggested that the issue was not so much about solving cases as it was about ensuring that the babies are in safe hands and are adopted by responsible parents.
“If not even a single case is solved, we can still protect the child. We do co-ordinate with the police and I will further discuss this with the top brass,” she said.Talking about the ‘Mamateya Tottilu’ scheme of the ICPS, Barma said, “Under this scheme officials educate people asking them not to abandon babies. There is a lot of publicity and cradles are set up in non-prominent locations as well, so that knowledge of the scheme spreads.”
Under the scheme, mothers unable to take care of their child, can leave them in the cradles and ring a bell. The department will then care for the child. “All our Aanganwadi and ASHA workers from the health department have been trained to ensure that women who come with unwanted pregnancies are told about these schemes. They are told why they need not abandon their child due to fear of poverty. Even if it is fear of social stigma, they can surrender their child,” Barma explained.
Mothers can directly approach the Child Welfare Committee or they can leave the baby in such cradles. Activists however fear that once the bureaucrat, posted for a short duration to the ICPS, leaves, all her work would be neglected.