Adoption row: Kids still not taken into government custody

Mysore: After months of struggle these two persons are finally hoping to see a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

Two Group D employees of Alanahalli Gram Panchayat, named  Neelamma and Nataraj (the maternal aunt and uncle of two orphaned kids) Navollas (9) and Santhosh (7) (names changed), were running from pillar to post after the children were shifted from Bapu Ji Children’s Home in Mysore, where they were installed based on the orders of former Mysore DC Manivannan after the death of their parents, to Vatsalya Charitable Trust in Bengaluru, a private adoption agency. Reportedly they were shifted without their guardians’ knowledge or consent.

The duo approached the Mysore Deputy Commissioner and the Karnataka Human Rights’ Commission and even the Chief Minister.  The  kids were all set to be given for adoption to an Italian couple.

Finally on 13th June, they submitted a memorandum to the Minister, Department of Women and Child Development, Mrs Umashree.

Since VCT had withdrawn the adoption case on 15 February this year, the guardians had appealed to the Minister to ask the government to take custody of the children. The concern was that they would be sent for adoption again. The minister, who considered the appeal, during a divisional level departmental review meeting held at Mysore, had summoned both the State level and District level officials who were present on the spot and ordered them to take the children into government custody immediately. They were told to shift them to the government home for boys in Mysore so that the guardians could meet the children.

The minister had even offered to continue to provide the children with education in any of the government institutions. The guardians had protested, but the minister had reassured them on this point and told them where to leave the children later.

The guardians were relieved. They even fulfilled their vows by visiting the Bannari Amma temple in Tamil Nadu.

But now the guardians have turned anxious, as the DWCD officials still haven’t done anything. It appears they are waiting for written directions from the Minister.

When DC contacted the Integrated Child Protection Scheme Project Director, Mrs Shashikala Shetty, who was reportedly not present at the meeting, she said, “The minister had ordered during lunch hour, and it was not part of the proceedings of the meeting. If the issue is mentioned in the proceedings of the meeting we will take it up further,” she said.

Another Programme officer, Narmada Anand of DWCD when contacted, confirmed to Deccan Chronicle, that the Minister’s oral order regarding the issue was not mentioned in the proceedings of the meeting. But she has given a note on the Minister’s order on this issue to the ICPS PD, Mrs Shetty, she said.