Queen-pin of adoption ring

Gokul Vannan

CHENNAI: A woman social worker of Chennai, working with a licensed adoption agency, has been found operating a child adoption racket through a reputed child adoption home, without anybody there the wiser, i.e., till now.

"Shaila Samuel, social worker, working with Guild of Service (GoS), used the agency's name, stamp and other related documents such as authorization letter signed by K N George, Honorary Secretary of the GoS, and its registration certificate to carry out the unlawful adoptions,'' said Dr P Manorama, chairperson of Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Chennai.

When members of CWC went to meet five children from Coimbatore and Salem in the GoS, entrusted with the temporary custody of the children, the members were shocked to find that the children were not at the home and that there was no mention of their names in the admission register or on any other document.

The children were earlier housed at Cheshire Home in Tiruvanmiyur and both, the Social Welfare Department and the CWC, had cleared their names for adoption, but with the caveat that the children would be given care and adoption would not be processed without its knowledge.

"Records showed that the children were not kept at the home. A child named 'Thaneer' was given away in adoption several months ago without legal clearance," George has given in writing to the Child Welfare Committee.