Roda Mistry's ICSW to surrender adoption right

Roda Mistry's ICSW to surrender adoption right

R. Ravikanth Reddy

HYDERABAD, MAY. 5. In an interesting twist to the adoption controversy, the Indian Council of Social Welfare (ICSW), run by former Minister, Ms. Roda Mistry, has decided to surrender their right to adoption work.

In a letter sent to Mr. Dev Verman, Secretary, Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), the ICSW stated that it was unhappy with the trend of affairs in the field of adoption and it did not wish to continue though it was a licensed organisation.

The organisation has decided to withdraw from the process of inter-country adoption totally even though their licence was renewed in January 2001 for three years. The decision was taken by the executive committee of ICSW-AP.

Meanwhile, parents continued to visit Sishu Vihar in search of their missing children. According to officials, 10 couples approached officials on Saturday.Some calls came from Warangal and Guntur districts. However, none of them found their children among the kids at Sishu Vihar.

On the allegations that parents were being harassed and denied entry into Sishu Vihar, Mrs. Shalini Mishra, Director, Women Development & Child Welfare (WD&CW), clarified that they were not denying entry to anyone. In fact, an official had been posted to see that parents were shown the children put up at Sishu Vihar, she said. She said some parents were willing to keep the children in the safe custody of the department given the controversy surrounding them. Referring to the case of Mrs. Kavita's children, who were rescued from `Precious Moments,' she said that the mother wanted her children - Vigneshwar Reddy and Nagalakshmi - to be with the department as she feared their safety in view of the `influential' persons involved in their adoption. Mrs. Kavita, who spoke to mediapersons at the Director's office, said her children were safe at Sishu Vihar and they were well-treated. She denied that officials had harassed her. They were very cooperative, she said.

There was no dearth of finances to provide facilities to the infants, Mrs. Mishra said. The Government had released Rs. 25 lakhs of the sanctioned Rs. 50 lakhs and facilities like air- conditioners, mattresses and hygienic food were provided for the comfort of the infants.

A clinic has been opened with round-the-clock services of a doctor in the Sishu Vihar. A nutritionist has also been posted to prepare the diet of each child as most of them were malnourished or undernourished when they were brought from the adoption homes. A regular oil massage was being given to the children to improve their physique.

Mrs. Mishra made it very clear that the authenticity of parents' claims would be verified before restoring the children to their biological parents. Two such claims had been referred for DNA tests so far and the results were expected soon. She said a special request had been made to Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital for expediting the eye operation of a girl, Sharada, as her waiting list number was over 8,000.

She said the department had decided to shift five out of 15 physically handicapped children to specialised institutions for proper care and protection. The Commissioner, Disabled Welfare, would take care of their welfare.

Regarding donations pouring in for the children, the Director said that donations in kind only were being accepted and cash donations would not be taken. She advised donors to send only tinned food and not cooked food. The TDP leader, Mrs. Nannapaneni Rajakumari, along with some organisations, donated clothes, napkins and carpets for the children.