Search for roots

As the world kicks off Adoption Week, Leena Rodricks is faced with a gamut of emotions. Adopted by an Indian father and an American mother, she was unaware of her biological parents.
Then one day, her adopted mother''s biological child (who was in foster care) returned home having traced her parentage. This triggered off a similar longing for roots in Leena who came to India to locate her biological parents."Every time I saw my adopted mother with her child, I felt I needed to know who my real mother was," says Leena, who was unable to trace her roots here.
There are many others who are faced with a similar dilemma, prompting them to ‘search'' for their biological parents. "Many teenagers who are Indian by birth and were adopted, are returning to look for their birth mothers," says Dr Nilima Mehta, an adoption counsellor. "The urge to reach for their roots is more pronounced among Indian children who have been adopted by foreigners because they suffer from what is called double trauma i.e. rejection by the birth parent as well the country," says Gaurang Mehta, secretary National Association of Adoptive Parents. Every year adopted children from abroad visit the respective orphanages from where they had been taken, says Dr Mehta.
Unlike in the West where the law permits adult adoptees to track down their biological parents, in India, the law has no such provisions.
The sealed record system prevents the sharing of any information with the child concerning the birth parent. Besides the legal trappings, there is also the issue of parents giving wrong contacts or changing residences, thus making it nearly impossible to locate them.
Experts recommend that adoption agencies should reframe the document of surrender and do a rethink about the legal situation. "The mother wants to guard her privacy, while there is the issue of child''s rights," notes Dr Mehta, "And from the human rights'' perspective, it is the child''s right that prevails. Reframing the document of surrender is a must."