Choose ‘Safe Surrender’ Over Infant Abandonment

Why in News?

• There has been a disturbing trend lately where infant abandonment cases have been reported in the media.
• For instance, in Tamil Nadu, a two-year-old girl found alone in a government bus was handed over to the police who traced her mother with the help of CCTV footage.
• In a similar case, a two-week-old boy was found abandoned in a closed tea stall in West Bengal and was given immediate medical aid by police.
• The article discusses the gravity of the issue of child abandonment, underlying reasons and suggests measures forward.

 

Background

• A recent report, “Review of Guardianship and Adoption Laws”, by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances and Law and Justice has pointed to the huge mismatch between the number of people wanting to adopt children and the number of children legally available for adoption.
  • The report suggested that the way to remedy would be to ensure that “orphan and abandoned children” are made available for adoption at the earliest.

 

Statistics

• National Crime Records Bureau : As per data by the NCRB, more than 700 criminal cases of ‘exposure and abandonment of child under twelve years’ were registered in the year 2021.
• Top abandonment: Delhi and Maharashtra saw the highest number of desertions between 2016 and 2020
• Awaited adoptions: As per Parliamentary report, there were 27,939 prospective parents registered with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) as on December 2021, from nearly 18,000 in 2017.
  • Also amongst 6,996 orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children residing in childcare institutions considered adoptable, only 2,430 were declared legally free for adoption by Child Welfare Committees.
• Adoption timeline: It claimed that the waiting time for adoption had increased to 3 years from one year, in the past 5 years. The total number of children adopted in 2021-22 was only 3,175.
  • As per CARA portal, there were 2,991 in-country adoptions and 414 inter-country adoptions in 2021-22. 

 

About CARA

• Description: Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is an autonomous and statutory body of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, set up in 1990.
• Role: It primarily deals with the adoption of orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children and regulates in-country and inter-country adoptions through its associated and recognized adoption agencies.
  • The inter-country adoptions are regulated in accordance with the provisions of the 1993 Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, ratified by India in 2003.

 

Legislation

• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (or the JJ Act): It requires hospitals, Child Care Institutions (CCIs), foster care agencies and Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), to legally bring abandoned babies into the adoption system and allows parents to hand over their child to adoption agencies or the CWC.
• Procedure: Following the submission of a "surrender letter", parents or guardians who want to give up a child are given 60 days to reconsider their decision following which documents such as Aadhar card, PAN card and hospital discharge papers are collected.
  • In case both parents are drug addicts or alcoholics, a child can be considered eligible for surrender and declared so after the prescribed process of inquiry and counselling.
• Stringent punishment: It shall be the duty of an authority or officer in front of whom surrender deed is executed to produce the child before the CWC within 24 hours. Non-reporting of abandonment within the prescribed time is a criminal offence.
• Safe surrender: The JJ Act provides that no First information report (FIR) shall be registered against any biological parent in the process of inquiry relating to an abandoned and surrendered child.
  • The purpose of this provision is to ensure that all efforts are made to trace the parents or guardians of the child without initiating any criminal action.
  • Further, the disclosure of the identity of such children is prohibited and all reports related to the child are to be treated confidential by the CWC.
• Significance of Surrender: It is a guarantee that the child will be taken care of till he or she attains majority or is adopted by a fit and willing parent.

 

About abandonment and surrender

• An abandoned child means a child who is deserted by his biological or adoptive parents or guardians.
  • Surrendered child: A parent or guardian, who for physical, emotional and social factors beyond their control, wishes to surrender a child, shall produce the child before the Committee.
• Legal provisions: In police parlance, abandonment is registered under three categories namely infanticide, foeticide, and finally exposure and abandonment of a child.
  • Infanticide: Preventing a child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth (10 yrs' jail under IPC section 315).
  • Foeticide: Causing the death of an unborn child, amounting to culpable homicide (10 yrs' jail under sections 315 and 316).
  • Abandonment: Abandonment of child under 12 years, by parent or care taker (7 yrs' jail under section 317)
• Implications of child abandonment: Abandonment endangers the child’s life and presents the child with life-long trauma and is also against the basic human right of ‘right to life’ and dignified per se.

 

Reasons for child abandonment: 

• No knowledge of legislation: A key reason for the abandonment of children is a lack of awareness across India about the law on the surrender of unwanted children.
• Personal reasons: Unwanted pregnancy, breakdown of a relationship, lower socio-economic status etc
• Hassle-free abandonment: Many tend to believe safe surrender involves a lot of paperwork, which makes them opt for illegal shortcuts.

 

A liberal interpretation

• Termination of pregnancy: The Supreme Court of India has just given a liberal interpretation to the law on termination of pregnancy when it comes to single and unmarried women.
  • Section 3(2)(b) Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 was amended in 2021 and the words “married woman” replaced with “any woman” and “husband” with “partner”.
• Ambiguity: However, the corresponding rule Rule 3B of the MTP Rules, 2003 was not amended, leaving scope for different interpretations by the lower courts.
  • Rule 3B(c) speaks of a change of marital status during an ongoing pregnancy and is followed by explanatory words “widowhood and divorce”.
  • In view of this, the Supreme Court passed an interim order to allow an unmarried woman petitioner to abort her pregnancy of 24 weeks arising out of a failed live-in relationship, subject to the Medical Board’s recommendations.
• Significance: The SC decision to grant same right to unmarried women to medically terminate pregnancy as to other categories (divorcees, widows, minors, disabled and mentally-ill women and survivors of sexual assault or rape) frees her from mental trauma.

 

Way Forward

• Regulatory body: In response to rampant malpractices and inter-country adoption rackets, CARA was installed as the nodal body for in-country and inter-country adoptions.
  • However, institutionalisation may be detrimental over the long term, and thus equal attention need to be paid to the finer aspects of child care, and allow itself to be guided by a child-centric philosophy.
• Generating Awareness: It is believed that most cases of unwanted pregnancies are known to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), daais and anganwadi workers, who have a strong network in villages. Hence, educating and sensitising them may reduce incidents of abandonment.
  • The staff of nursing homes should also be included in such a programme.
• Promote legislation: Wide publicity needs to be given to these provisions of the JJ Act so that no child is deserted, and parents, guardians and functionaries who are mandated to report any abandonment do not face a risk of criminal offence.
• Local surveys: The Parliamentary Standing Committee has suggested periodic district surveys to identify children who are orphaned/ abandoned.
• Parents privacy: Amendments can also be bought in JJ Act that allow vulnerable parents to surrender their child confidentially without any stigma or legal repercussions at local police stations.
• Separate constitutional body: The child welfare should be built out as a separate constitutional structure such as the Election Commission of India, where central, state, and district child protection bodies are monitored and held accountable.
• Linking identity: DNA of every person could be recorded in his Aadhaar so that cases of abandonment and even foeticide could be checked using such tools by tracing parents and fixing responsibility.

 

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Source: Choose ‘safe surrender’ over infant abandonment