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Insufficient info keeps Haynes in the doldrums

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Mayura Janwalkar

Mumbai: There seems to be no respite for Jennifer Haynes. The Central Adoption Resources Authority (Cara) filed an affidavit before the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, saying the US embassy does not have enough information on Haynes.

The 28-year-old was deported to Mumbai from the US in July 2008. "I make some money by teaching English to some children. But I need my documents to get a decent job," she said. Haynes is gradually coping with life in the city from where she was adopted almost 20 years ago.

Cara's deputy director Jagannath Pati said in the affidavit that the US embassy has said they have 'insufficient information to come to any sound conclusion' and it was 'attempting to locate Jennifer in Mumbai to discuss her situation'.

Speaking to DNA on Wednesday evening, Haynes, however, said nobody had contacted her. Her advocate Pradeep Havnur said nobody had tried to contact him either. Haynes was deported to Mumbai after the US authorities found some discrepancies in her citizenship documents.

DNA was the first to report Haynes's case against Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA) that had processed her adoption papers in 1989. In an email to Pati, the AIAA said Haynes was eight years old when she was adopted. Her first adoptive parents gave up guardianship because of her 'difficult behaviour in home and school'. Another email said the agency wanted to assure the high court that they did their duty to the maximum extent possible under Indian and US laws.

But advocate Jamshed Mistry who argued Haynes's case on Wednesday termed Cara's affidavit 'highly inconclusive'.

In a letter to Pati, the Indian Council of Social Welfare (ICSW) said Haynes could not be helped because its records were washed away in the deluge of July 26, 2006. "Our office in Chembur was completely submerged in water. All furniture, documents, and files were damaged," reads the ICSW letter.

2009 Jun 11