KOCHI: Have you received a WhatsApp forward like this: “If anyone wants to adopt a baby girl, please contact 0971******* (Priyanka). Three-day-old and six-month-old girls available. They lost their parents recently to Covid. Please help these kids get a new life, spread the word.” Many similar broadcast messages are making rounds, where ‘good samaritans seem to be seeking help to arrange adoption of children, especially girls, orphaned during the pandemic. Experts claim that even though some of these efforts are genuine, they may trigger child trafficking.
Dhananjay Tingal, executive director of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, said the messages spreading on social media calling for prospective foster parents could be an attempt to traffick children and misuse the intention of those genuinely trying to help children. “Ideally, anyone willing to help should be calling government helplines to report on orphaned children,” he said.
“When a child is orphaned, he/she becomes vulnerable. Many kids are suffering because they lost their parents to the pandemic and their caregivers are hospitalised. There is no one to take care of them. Their neighbours or extended families keep away out of fear of contracting the virus,” he said. Dhananjay added that there are no relaxations in the adoption procedure due to the pandemic.
“People can’t just go and buy/take these children because their parents are dead. We have been receiving so many calls regarding adoptions related to Covid deaths of parents/caretakers. Prospective foster parents still need to register with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to become eligible for adoption. Though no cases of Covid death-related trafficking have been reported so far, we fear these types of forwarded messages are an indication, and even educated people are not aware of adoption laws,” he said.
HAMA ACT MAY BE A LOOPHOLE
According to K Naseer, Kerala State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (KeSCPCR) member in-charge for Ernakulam district, cases of such children are likely to get suppressed since there are chances of inter-state traffickers stepping in.“Mostly, illegal adoptions are reported from border districts like Wayanad, Kasaragod, and Kannur since Kerala follows legal guidelines. But then, the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA), 1956 (78 of 1956) has a loophole in Section 56 (clause 3 of care and protection of children) of the Juvenile Justice Act. In HAMA, adoption is possible with just an adoption deed, which opens up room for misuse,” said Naseer
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