Every morning the poison wakes up to the same routine – checking the phone and opening the government child adoption portal with an enthusiastic hope that there will be some movement in its application. “Now for two years, my life has been defined by waiting,” the 45 -year -old man says.
Pranathi and husband, 48 -year -old Ramakrishna, are married for the last 12 years and are childless. Residents of Tanali in Guntur district tried every available medical option to the couple from one breeding center to another from one breeding center to another.
She went through two rounds of intrauterine conception (IUI) and a round of in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Treatment was ending. “The injections were painful and had to be taken regularly,” she says, remembering Regimen. She says, “There were side-effects; medicines leave you in more than one way,” she says. When medical science did not console, the couple registered in June 2023 and turned to adoption. “We want to share our life with a child,” she says.
According to the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) guidelines, a government agency that controls and facilitates adoption in India is eligible for a child in the age group of 2-4. For them, adoption is the only way for paternity. But wait, she says, she has been unbearable.
Priti admitted that, in moments of frustration, she is wooed to consider shortcuts, but in reports of child trafficking and illegal adoption, the report of landing in legal troubles to parents is better about her thinking. “I can’t imagine losing a child after putting in my arms,” she says, the voice is breaking.
Frustration
Fear of Pranathi is not baseless. Examples of examples of child trafficking on the vulnerability of childless joints in the state are increasing.
A case in the point is 26 -year -old CH. Ongol to Meghna in Prakasam district. Meghna and husband Vishnu Teja got married in 2019, but remained in Chat. As the couple began to consider adopting through Kara, a known registered medical practitioner (RMP) from Guntur approached his relatives, informing them that a college girl, who had given a child, wanted to leave the baby. Relatives discussed the matter with Meghna’s father-in-law, who collected 16 days,A child older than RMP.
The arrival of a child was nothing short of a miracle for the childless couple, because it filled the silence of their house with laughter, purpose and a joy that no one knew. But Jubilee turned into disappointment on July 14, when the child was snatched by the Vijayawada police, who informed him that he was a smuggling baby. Meghna has now appealed to the District Collector and transferred the court, seeking their intervention to regain the child’s custody.
In another case, which may be the most serious in the incidents of smuggling so far, a three -month -old baby girl changed her hand seven times within two months in August 2022. Originally from Mangalagiri in Guntur district, she was sold in Mikkilihimi of her father Madabalimi Monoz of Dandlagiri (Telangana). For 70,000.
Nagalakshmi sold the child to Meghwat Gayatri for ₹ 1.2 lakh, which went to hand over the child to the earth for ₹ 1.87 lakh. Bhukya Nandu sold the child to SK. Noor Jahan made ₹ 1.9 lakh through an Anubolu Kiran. Subsequently, the child was shifted to Bomada Uma Devi in Hyderabad (not known). He was then sold to Padala Srwani of Vijayawada for ₹ 2 lakh and then El 2.2 lakh was sold to Garikmuku Vijayalakshmi of Vijayawada for ₹ 2.2 lakh before reaching the hands of Ver Ramesh, which paid ₹ 2.5 lakh.
Based on a complaint from the baby’s mother and grandmother, the Guntur police formed a special task force and detected a series of smuggling. Eleven people, including the father, were arrested and the child was again found with his mother.
“An acquaintance of my wife told her that infants could be silently arranged through middlemen if she did not want to wait for the legal process to end.”Sarveshwar RaoResident of Singh Nagar in Vijayawada
The case instigated a state-wide debate about complex adoption processes, leading to desperate couples to weak vigilance in hospitals and communities and delayed police reaction to missing children or smuggling cases.
After this incident, the Andhra Pradesh High Court took cognizance of the issue and Senior Advocate P. Sri Raghuram was appointed as Amicus Curia and guided the court on widespread systematic failures and recommended reforms. The distracted frequency of transactions in this single case motivated the High Court to investigate whether procedural delays and enforcement intervals were inadvertently promoting illegal smuggling.
Raghuram found that the adoption process is excessive bureaucracy and slow, often takes years to complete, and this delay extends the parents to illegal options. He also underlined the delay in response by law enforcement agencies and called for community-level vigilance.
He suggested the simplification of the adoption process, strengthening vigilance at major points, Swift police reaction and legal adoption process to educate the public about a series of awareness campaigns, punishment for smuggling or sex determination and the importance of reporting any suspected activity immediately.
“Waiting is unbearable. Friends whisper ‘other options’. An acquaintance of my wife told her that infants can be silently arranged through middlemen if she did not want to wait for the legal process to end,” says Saraveshwar Rao of Singh Nagar in Vijayawada.
Married for sixteen years, the couple decided to adopt a child and register in Kara. “We were told that it could take two to three years, but before we can bring the child home,” says the 40 -year -old teacher says.
He says that the government after completing every formality, which the government asks, the background check, counseling session, home inspection and medical certificate, waiting becomes painful. “And yet, every moment of that waiting now seems worthwhile, without worrying the shadow of fear or the uncertainty of the future for the happiness brought in our life.” The couple was given a three -month -old child in April.
Struggle for paternity
A District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) officer, demanding oblivion, explains how couples usually contact women and child welfare department after ending all possible reproductive treatment. “A woman became completely bald with us,” the officials remember. “He said that he lost his hair, because he was kept on the strong medicine.”
DCPU says that they have also received desperate calls from men, saying that their wives have slipped into depression due to waiting. “Their voices carry both helplessness and fear,” they say. Without too much money or knowledge, the system of centralized hair-chanting feels out of reach.
“It is also that many couples look for other options,” N. Shiva Prakash says, the native of Thotallleur in Krishni Estrunt. The 42-year-old man along with his wife Ram Devi visited the local office of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) to learn about the process of taking a child-bed in 2021. “He talked about CARA guidelines, hair adoption resource information and guidance system (Carings) portal, registration and paperwork, including online forms, income proofs and certificates and long -waiting time, especially for infants and healthy infants. I could not understand their legal conditions, so I left the idea of adopting through CARA.”
There were other reasons for couples to avoid Kara route. He says, “They wanted me to show a certificate that my annual income was at least ₹ 3 lakhs. But if I did so, my white ration card would be canceled, and I could not take the risk of losing it,” they say. The couple adopted a child from a relative and the girl is now four years old.
How procedures go on
An online portal, maintained by Kara for a potential adoption parents (PAPS) by Caring, Kara, to complete the process of registration, track and adoption, is to ensure that adoption is legal, transparent and in the best interest of the child. The District Women and Child Welfare Department is a local authority to oversee child protection and welfare, and it coordinates with child care institutions (CCI) and adopted agencies that ensure that the process follows the CARA rules.
The DCPU department has a ground-level arm, which identifies orphans, abandoned or surrendered children, producing them legally independent to adopt them before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and produces them to support the adopted parents with documents and counseling.
The Women and Child Welfare Department promotes adoption through 27 special adoption agencies (SSAS) or Cishu Gruhas established in 26 districts. Children in the age group of 0–18 are kept for adoption, and in the last three years, the department kept 34 children to adopt 239 children in the country and to adopt the inter-country.
“Most potentially adopted parents prefer children under one year,” the Secretary, Women and Child Welfare Department, A. Surya Kumari says. This is probably for ease of bonding, to experience the early stages of paternity (feeding, first word, first phase) and due to social stigma, because parents prefer a newborn to present it as their biological baby.
Nurture
Surya Kumari says that the department is encouraging spinach care to provide a safe and nutritional family environment for a large number of children in a 6-18-year group that are living in CCIS. “As their parents or parents are unavailable or unable to take care of them due to various circumstances, they can be placed under spinach care,” she explains.
“Foster Care is about flexible commitment, which allows couples and single women to provide temporary care without adoption of adoption.”A. Surya KumariSecretary, Women and Child Welfare Department
In foster care, a child requiring care and safety is placed in the domestic environment of a family at short term, and this process is coordinated by DCPU and approved by CWC of the respective district. Surya Kumari explains, “This is about flexible commitment, which allows couples and single women to provide temporary care without adoption permanent,” saying that it suits people who want to help but are not ready for life responsibility. She says that it can develop in adoption after two years, if desired.
Meanwhile, voices seeking decentralization of adoption process without diluting existing rules are increasing loudly. BVS Kumar, former chairman of the Child Welfare Committee of Krrishna district, feels, “The local access couple will allow the couple to contact the district or state-level adopted agencies instead of waiting endlessly.”
He says adoption is an emotional journey, and local sensitive handling can reduce the stress of the future adopted parents, providing a very essential human touch. “In addition to improving speed and efficiency, it will bring more and more confidence, and localized processes can give confidence to many couples that hesitate to contact central authorities for fear of complications,” called Kumar.
(Names of couples changed)
