THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Adoptive parents wait for years to add to their family, so skewed is the ratio of prospective parents to the kids available for adoption. According to the Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System, there is just one child available for every nine adoptive parents in the country.
Yet for all this crunch, there is one section of orphaned kids who don’t make it to the wish list of waiting parents. These are the special children afflicted by autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, dyslexia and blindness.
While these children spend all their lives ignored and in misery in orphanages and care centres which barely have the facilities to house them, the Women and Child Development (WCD) department is stepping in with plans to provide improved facilities for them at specially set up homes. According to a WCD source, there are about 20 kids with special needs in 17 authorised adoption centres in the state.
The project will be implemented in coordination with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), the Central nodal body for adoption. Once a separate home is built, facilities such as medical service, physical, occupational and speech therapies, clinical psychology, rehabilitation surgery, and skill training for some trade will be made available to the inmates.
Adoption centres are not allowed to keep children above six years and need to shift them to orphanages or childcare institutes. However, most of these institutes and orphanages lack the facilities to house special kids.
“Till a separate centre is established, we are looking to house the children at centres run by voluntary groups who have prior experience in dealing with kids with special needs,” said the WCD source.It has been learnt that the government has invited Expression of Interest from volunteer groups willing to accommodate the children. So far, five organisations have applied. Officers have visited two centres in Malappuram district, and have given the initial nod to ratify them as eligible for accommodating the children.