TITABOR/TEOK, July 10 - The ever widening ratio between the prospective adoptive parents and the legally-free children available for adoption in Assam has snowballed into a thriving illegal child adoption racket and that too with traces of inter-state ramifications.
Alarmingly, the tilt towards this disturbing trend is being witnessed in some of the remotest areas, the Assam-Nagaland border being one of them. Among several other reported cases of �selling� the child under the guise of �adoption�, there are also instances of children from Nagaland �adopted� by families in Assam, keeping at bay all adoption guidelines.
The Assam Tribune, during the course of its investigation, has accessed a copy of a recent official correspondence addressed to the District Child Protection Officer, Jorhat, wherein several fresh and hitherto unreported cases of illegal adoption were specifically mentioned, although no reported action was initiated.
Ground investigation suggests that the number of such illegal adoption could be much more than what meets the eye. Cases of gender-bias too have surfaced where the biological parents decided to give away the offspring after realizing that it was a baby girl.
�Such cases make the job of the middlemen easier. There could be several facets to the child-selling ring,� a local activist said, referring to a case where the parents initially wanted to surrender the newborn to the Child Welfare Commission (CWC) but eventually fell in to the trap of the nexus.
Newborn babies and children, locals say, are adopted over word-of-mouth but most often than not substantial amount of money change hands in different parts of Jorhat. The amount quoted for the childless couple to pay, they say, ranges from Rs 15,000 to even Rs 1 lakh.
During the on-field investigation, it has been found that nearly 20 cases of illegal child adoption had taken place in the last one year or so, about which the Adoption Agency or the State Adoption Resource Authority (SARA) or the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) have no information, making them look like clear cases of illegal adoption.
In fact, the specialized adoption agency of the district, which in this case is Swaraj, too has no clue about the legality of the adoptions in question. There are chances of the babies been adopted under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (HAMA), but then most of the parents failed to produce any valid papers to that effect when reportedly enquired by the authorized agency.
A legal expert, however, opined that even if there is an abrupt rise in the number of registration under HAMA, there has to be a mechanism to verify the authenticity of legal documents. �There is a need to unearth the forces sufficing the requirement of the childless couples. This could just be the tip of the iceberg,� a local resident in the know of some of the suspected cases of illegal adoption said.
The rise in such unlawful practices has largely been attributed to the long waiting of parents wanting to adopt a child. In Assam, as of May 2019, more than 600 couples are awaiting an opportunity to adopt a legally-free child, which numbers just 50.
The role of hospitals and grassroots-level health and social workers, many believe, needs to be investigated. And it is mostly the unwed mothers and poverty-stricken families who are targeted as they are mostly not in a position to raise their child.
�There is a thin line between illegal adoption and baby selling ring, which needs to be unearthed,� a social worker based in Teok said.
Roma (name changed), an unwed mother gave away her baby to a childless couple through an Anganwadi worker. The matter was brought to the notice of CWC after the child was rescued by the Childline, Jorhat.
Jorhat CWC chairperson Alok Rajkhowa said that the Commission, in this case, had handed the child back to the biological mother. But, people privy to the development believe that there is still an ambiguity about the child�s status.
�In another case of illegal adoption, the matter was reported to the police as the parents did not turn up before the Commission,� Rajkhowa said.