TLCH gives Indians pass for adoption

HYDERABAD: While 1,516 applications from Indian nationals are pending as of February 2002 with the state government for adoption of children, the government is supporting Tender Loving Care Home (TLCH) at Erragadda, Hyderabad in facilitating inter-country adoption by foreign parents.
This is in violation of the state’s adoption procedures which require the placement agency to wait for three months for the natural parents of the baby to show up.
Thereafter, the agency should make all efforts within 45 days to place the children with Indian parents with the support of the voluntary coordination agency (VCA).
For instance, Tender Loving Care Home recorded one child as rejected by prospective adoptive parents on April 20, 2000. But it had referred its adoption for clearance to the VCA on April 17, 2000, a full three days earlier. In many cases, the dates and names of parents rejected were forged to facilitate inter-country adoption, sources said.
In one case, a couple from Rajahmundry said that they were shown only one baby for adoption. They signed no rejection letters, but Tender Loving Care Home claimed that the couple had rejected three children.
Last week, when the US embassy’s immigration visa unit’s chief Amanda Cronkite visited the city to inspect the government-run Sishu Vihar, women and child welfare department (W&CWD) director Shalini Mishra denied her permission to carry out her task. So Cronkite took clearance from W&CWD secretary Dr S Chellappa to do so.
Last week, the latter also permitted a foreign couple to adopt a baby from TLCH.
Though TLCH’s licence was cancelled on Oct. 5, 2001, the agency claims that it had never been cancelled by the Central Adoption and Rescue Agency (CARA) or any other adoption authority. In response to a report which appeared in The Times of India on Wednesday, Tender Loving Care Home stated that their licence was not renewed as the state government failed to send its comments within the stipulated time.
“Our licence is deemed to have been renewed for two years under Rule 5.5 of CARA guidelines. Adverse propaganda against TLCH has been unleashed by the hostility of a government officer,� the TLCH chief coordinator said on Thursday.
But Non governmental organisatin representatives refuted the Tender Loving Care Home’s argument as baseless and raised questions about the whereabouts of 90 children who were under Tender Loving Care Home custody. Only cases pertaining to 65 of these children are pending in court.