WARANGAL: On December 17, Jangaon District Child Protection Officer brought a tribal couple to Child Welfare Committee for surrendering their days-old baby girl as they were not in a position to take care of her.
Theirs is not an isolated case as, according to officials, many economically poor couples and single mothers are coming forward to surrender their babies after the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 came into force, allowing parents, who cannot take care of the child due to economic, physical or social reasons, to surrender their children.
According to committee chairperson Mandala Parashuramulu, poor parents who are unable to bring up their newborns can surrender them to the government. Instead of abandoning babies, now people can legally surrender them to Child Protection Committee, he said.
“By surrendering their child, parents will knowingly put their child up for adoption,” he said. “Surrendered babies would be put for adoption by Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). After completing all the formalities, babies would be handed over to childless couples,” he said.
Apart from 12 surrendered babies, there are about 24 abandoned babies in Sishu Gruha in Warangal city, he informed.