Meena Kuruvilla: The doyen of adoption

KOZHIKODE: State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) member Meena Kuruvilla has a unique distinction of having facilitated more than 5,000 adoptions in the state over a period of 20 years. Ms Kuruvilla was the state coordinator of Adoption Coordination Agency, the central government-licensed agency to promote legal adoption for two decades and the first programme manager of State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA).

"In those days, there were fewer couples and more children. Now the situation has just been reversed," says Ms Kuruvilla. According to SARA, there are only 55 legally-fit-for-adoption children in the 17 centres of specialised adoption agencies in Kerala whereas 625 prospective couples are in the waiting.

"The social stigma towards adoption has vanished. Earlier, it was Hindu couples who mostly came. Now couples from all community come," she noted. Ms Kuruvilla says that now couples visit adoption centres much earlier, even two years after marriage. "Attitude is paramount. Once a prospective mother came to see a child, the child urinated on her dress resulting in a quick response from the woman that she was her child henceforth. That kind of emotional bonding is necessary," she said.

Another important reminder for the couple is that they must reveal the child that he or she is adopted. There are close to 60 childless couple who became biological parents after the adoption. "The joyful family ambience since the entry of a child might have positively affected the mind of the couple," she said.

Their grievances include the social stigma they face in the society, enormous financial loss due to the IVF treatment and going through the mental agony. K.N Gopalan Nair, general secretary of Kerala Adoptive Family Association, says family get-together functions of adopted children held annually provided an excellent level of peer support and confidence to the children when they grew up.