Ghaziabad: Over the past four years, 40 children, several of them infants abandoned right after their birth, were rescued from parks, roadsides and hospitals across the city. Twenty-eight of them — 22 girls and 18 boys — were adopted, said Child Welfare Committee (CWC).Officials said Ghaziabad has seen several cases of newborns being abandoned in public places. One such case involved a baby girl found in a park in Madhuban Bapudham with her umbilical cord still attached.“Her tiny body, smeared with blood, had been discarded in the park moments after birth,” a child protection official said. The infant was discovered nearly a month ago after a local resident, out on his morning walk, heard stray dogs barking and went close to take a look. “He found the girl, barely alive, lying on the ground and immediately called the emergency helpline,” the official said. “When our team reached the spot, we found the child lying in blood. She appeared to have been abandoned immediately after birth. Had the caller not alerted us in time, the stray dogs could have attacked her.” The infant was shifted to the adoption centre and is expected to be declared legally free for adoption next month, the official added.The Madhuban Bapudham case is not an isolated one. About six months ago, another baby girl had been left behind at a hospital in Nandgram. She had disability and was abandoned before she could even feel the warmth of a mother’s embrace. Hospital staff who found her believed that her disability may have been the reason her parents never returned to take her home. They called up CWC, and it took the infant into its custody.A year earlier, another child met a similar fate. A baby boy, born with severely impaired hands, was found abandoned near Dasna in Ghaziabad, left to the mercy of strangers with little clue to his identity or future.For these three infants, life began with rejection instead of celebration. After months, they found new families. Over the past four years, the Ghaziabad CWC has declared 40 children ‘legally free for adoption,’ CWC chairperson J B Bhadradas said.“Twelve children — five boys and seven girls — are still waiting to find their homes, but we hope that they will find a home soon,” he said. A child is “legally free for adoption” when the authorities sever the child’s legal ties with biological parents, clearing it for adoption. In India, this status is exclusively granted by CWC under the Juvenile Justice Act. Only after a child receives this formal declaration can the child be legally placed with prospective parents through Central Adoption Resource Authority, a centralised system.Bhadradas said that every effort is first made to reunite abandoned children with their biological families. During the 90-day buffer period, CWC makes efforts to trace the child’s parents. “We involve the cops and the district administration to find them. We also publish advertisements in newspapers. If they can’t be located, the child is declared legally free for adoption,” he said.After the child is put up for adoption, three families who applied first are eligible to do so. “We then form an adoption committee and check all the documents and credentials of the parents, and if things go well, we give the child to the new parents. Usually, it takes over three months to provide a child a new home, unless they are returned,” he said. There have also been instances where adoptive parents have returned the children, leaving the authorities responsible for the child’s care once again.Bhadradas further said that Ghaziabad has witnessed cases of girls below the age of 18 giving birth. “In many cases, they do not realise they are pregnant until it is too late to legally terminate the pregnancy. We step in to rescue the child and ensure proper care,” he said.
