THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “You stand in front of a mother — a refuge for infants. Have you decided that you can’t bring up the child in your hand? If so, let us take care of the child... Just keep the child in the cradle!” This message has been playing out at the ‘Ammathottil’ for nearly two and a half decades, offering a final resort to hundreds of mothers and infants who would have otherwise found it difficult to face the world.
In the early hours of Tuesday, the cradle at the facility in Thiruvananthapuram moved once again, as a baby girl made it to the safe shelter. The five-day-old girl, weighing 2.57 kg, was not just another infant finding shelter.
She was the 1,000th child received at Ammathottil centres across the state under the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare, since the launch of the initiative 24 years ago in the state capital. Marking the historic moment, she has been named ‘Sahasra’, which in Sanskrit means 1,000.
“The first child we received in December 2002 was a girl. We named her Nithya. The 100th baby was another girl, Sathashree. Now, we have a girl as the 1,000th guest. Just as we receive more girls, more of them are getting adopted too,” said G L Arun Gopi, general secretary of the council.
Tuesday marked yet another joyous occasion for the council as three children were gifted a new life, being adopted by families. “Three girls, each a year old, began their new lives with their families in the United States, Sweden and Thrissur. We handed the children over to the parents on Tuesday,” said P Sasidharan of the Child Welfare Council.
When the first Ammathottil was established on November 14, 2002, the aim was simple: no child should be abandoned without care and hope, and parents unable to raise their children could leave them there, knowing the child would receive better care.
Ammathottil in T’Puram received 667 children so far
Of the 14 cradles across the state, the one in the state capital has received the maximum children (667), while the one in Wayanad has not received anyone so far. Of the thousand infants received, 319 were girls.
After the incumbent committee took over in 2023, as many as 111 children have found shelter in Ammathottil across the state. In the past three years alone, 258 infants were adopted from the facilities. Of these, 227 are in India, and 31 are abroad.
“Currently, ‘Ammathottil’ facilities are located near district and taluk hospitals across Kerala. However, the cradles in Idukki and Kannur were dismantled due to hospital development work, while Wayanad is yet to have a functional facility.
Construction of new high-tech Ammathottil facilities in these three districts is progressing rapidly,” said K Jayapal, state treasurer. He added that all inefficient baby cradles, including those in Ernakulam, will be reconstructed using high-tech specifications.
With Sahasra becoming its 1,000th child, according to officials, the focus now is on raising awareness so that every abandoned infant can be safely handed over through legal channels.