Beware of social media messages you receive on adopting kids!

Over the past weeks, there have been instances of children, whose parents are hospitalised with COVID, being left alone at home with little or no support. And a far more tragic scenario is where children have been orphaned as a result of their parent(s) succumbing to the disease. “A lot of messages are circulating on social media asking people to look after or adopt kids whose parents have died due to COVID. Adoption is a legal process regulated by CARA. At the state level, it is regulated by State Adoption Resource Authority (SARA). Any child found in difficult circumstances should be reported to the Child Welfare Committees in the respective district or to Childline (1098). In Goa we have only two adoption agencies – Caritas Goa and Matruchhaya. If people come across such messages they must immediately inform the police,” says Snehal Salgaonkar, convener of Goa Pro Child Network and Children Rights in Goa.“Such posts of adoption of children are illegal. They may be well meaning, but are often the handiwork of trafficking networks. When natural tragedies like these (pandemic, tsunamis, earthquakes) take place, children are most vulnerable to these situations. If such illegal ‘adoptions’ take place, even if well meaning, it takes us back to the time when families had poskems, where the child has no right to the family properties and family surname. People must be made aware of the legal procedures of surrendering the child for adoption and of adopting a child, and Directorate of Women and Child Welfare must play a proactive role in alerting people on these matters,” says Adv (Dr) Albertina Almeida, a human rights activist.“The ministry has issued a letter which we have to circulate to hospitals, Child Welfare Committee members, Juvenile Justice Board members and police stations to check if such cases are reported. Proper procedures and guidelines have to be followed by keeping them in legal adoption agencies and declaring them for adoption,” says Deepali Naik, director of Women and Child Development.Fr Maverick Fernandes, of Caritas Goa, an adoption agency says, “People have to follow the procedures for adoption which is handled by CARA and SARA. A proper home study of the family is done by adoption organisations. This is done to ensure that the family is ready to take care of the adopted child. There is wait period and the procedure is long. Such social media posts on adoption are illegal.”