Adoption Rackets Prey On Unsuspecting People Desperate For Children

Last year, a man in Mumbai found out that his three children바카라�put in a childcare home run by a well-known charity after the death of their mother바카라�have been adopted by an American couple without his knowledge. He has been fighting a legal battle since then. His case may be not exactly of fraud as the charity had put out newspaper notices about the plan to put up the three children for adoption. But for many others, it has been a nightmarish experience after being taken for a ride by organised gangs.  

ALSO READ:

Experts and activists say the main reason for adoption frauds are India바카라�s complicated laws and their cumbersome implementation process due to which couples desperate to adopt children often look for unauthorised channels. India tightened its adoption rules after cases emerged of parents being coerced or tricked to give up their children for inter-country adoptions. And the involvement of doctors, nurses and orphanage officials in a racket that runs into crores of rupees annually makes it all the more difficult for unsuspecting couples in ­detecting fraudulent deals. Sometimes, of course, couples go ahead despite being aware of the illegal nature of the adoption process.

***

Ashok Chand, a former deputy commissioner of police (crime) who had unearthed at least three adoption rackets in Delhi around 2010, says that racketeers have more or less the same modus operandi in which they either buy ­children from poor parents or ask them to ­conceive and hand over the newborn to needy parents in return for money.

ALSO READ:

바카라�One gang had four members, including two women, a doctor and another man. The women were operating the racket in the garb of ­running NGOs,바카라� Chand says.  

They used to bring newborn babies from poor parents, and then one of the women used to get admitted to the hospital and pretend that she had given birth to the baby. They used to forge birth certificates and other papers with the help of the doctor and give the baby to the couple they had lured for adoption. 바카라�We had rescued an 11-day-old girl and an eight-month-old boy whom they were planning to sell at Rs 1.8 lakh. The biological parents would get only Rs 30,000,바카라� Chand says.    

Legal experts say that in such cases, all the parties바카라�from biological parents to middlemen to couples바카라�come under the scanner for violation of adoption laws. 바카라�Normally, the biological parents take the plea that their children have been stolen and they are victims. In some cases, they have a genuine plea, but, in many cases, they remain hand in glove with the agents,바카라� says Anand S. Jondhale, a Supreme Court advocate who deals with cases of adoption crime. 바카라�Similar is the case with couples involved. Some of them are duped, while many others enter into the adoption process knowing that it is not legal. However, when they are caught, they take the plea that they were defrauded. Couples are booked under charges of kidnapping and ­abduction along with other middlemen.바카라�

Adopting kids through unauthorised channels carries several risks to couples. A couple based in Patna had an unpleasant experience of going through the process of adoption when they were taken for a ride by some unauthorised agents. 바카라�We paid Rs 1 lakh as advance money to an agent who came in our contact through a known source. He introduced us to another couple who used to live in a slum area. They had two daughters. The agent paid Rs 50,000 to the couple and the deal was that the woman would conceive and, if she delivered a girl, she would give us the newborn for adoption. But in case it was a boy, she had to return the money,바카라� says the husband who works as a contractor.

ALSO READ:

He adds, 바카라�She conceived and we used to keep track of her every fortnight. But when the ­delivery date came closer, we realised that they had disappeared.바카라� Later, one of their neighbours informed the couple that the family had managed to get an illegal prenatal foetus sex identification done, which showed the unborn child was a boy. 바카라�They disappeared as they were in no position to return the money. 바카라�

***

In a recent case, Bangalore police busted a gang of five바카라�including two women바카라�which used to purchase kids from beggars and slum dwellers at Rs 70,000 to 80,000 each, and sell them to rich childless couples for more than Rs 3 lakh each. In the past two years, they stuck a deal for 28 children before their luck ran out. Investigations reveal that that racket extended to other cities such as Mumbai and Chennai. 바카라�We suspect the involvement of more people in this racket. We have identified all the 28 ­children who have been sold,바카라� a senior police ­officer tells Outlook.  

ALSO READ:

In a country where more than 1 lakh children go missing every year, there are huge ­opportunities for criminal gangs to run illegal activities like adoption rackets. There have also been numerous cases of children being sold from orphanages with fake adoption papers to give legal cover to the deals.  

There have been several cases in the past in which childcare homes run by well-known welfare institutions were alleged to be involved in the sale-purchase of children in the name of adoption. In 2018, a nun and a worker of a care home run by Mother Teresa바카라�s Missionaries of Charity in Ranchi, Jharkhand, was allegedly ­involved in the sale of three to five children. This had prompted then Union minister of women and child development Maneka Gandhi to direct all states to inspect the childcare homes run by the Missionaries of Charity.

ALSO READ:

***

In several cases, government officers and members of the Child Welfare Committee바카라�an autonomous body constituted under the law in every district to deal with children in need of care and protection바카라�have been found involved in illegal adoption rackets. In an adoption racket busted in February 2017 in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, investigations revealed that the district child protection officer and a member of the Child Welfare Committee were allegedly ­involved in the sale of at least 17 children, both in India and abroad.

It was a riveting case of international ­trafficking where children were illegally given to NRIs, violating rules of adoption. Interest­ingly, when the matter landed in the Supreme Court, it was appalled to see how two statutory bodies바카라�the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights바카라�were engaged in a legal battle over their rights and power of investigation. 바카라�This case is a ­classic example where the children have been all but forgotten in the fight between the State Commission and the ­National Commission. We are sorry that this court has to spend its time resolving such ­disputes,바카라� a bench headed by Justice Deepak Gupta said while passing the judgment.

In June 2021, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognisance when social media posts ­appeared with requests for adoption of children allegedly orphaned in the pandemic or left with single parents. Lawyer Shobha Gupta, who ­appeared in the case for We the Women of India, said in court that most of the social media posts were fake and, in any event, no adoption is permissible without the involvement of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). After the top court passed several directions to the Centre and states, the governments ­identified 30,071 children who became ­orphans or lost one parent during the pandemic.  

ALSO READ:

Police also point to cases when children바카라�s lives were put in danger by traffickers trying to ­escape the law. A Mumbai police inspector tells Outlook that a few years ago he had received an anonymous call from a woman who informed that another woman used to bring half-a-dozen kids to her house, only for them to 바카라�disappear바카라� within a few days.  

바카라�I told the caller to inform me the next time kids were brought. Within a month, I got the call and we raided the house. But the trafficker got wind of our action minutes earlier and tried to hide the toddlers,바카라� the inspector says on the condition of anonymity as he is not ­authorised to speak to the media. 바카라�She tried to conceal one toddler under a pile of clothes in a basket. She kept that basket at a neighbour바카라�s place. We ­conducted intensive search ­operations at her house and the neighbours바카라� houses. Had we not traced the child on time, he might have died due to suffocation.바카라� Children rescued in such police operations are sent to the Child Welfare Committees, one or more of which exist in each district.

ALSO READ:

***

Experts say that earlier people used to go to orphanages and childcare homes run by NGOs and directly adopt children following the legal process. However, since the government brought them under CARA through the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, the process has become very cumbersome and many couples complain that they have to wait for several years to get a child. CARA is a statutory body under the women and child development ministry.  

Pratibha, a Delhi-based woman, says that after an endless wait that didn바카라�t get her the child of her choice from CARA, she got a ­newborn for adoption from a close family friend. 바카라�A good-looking and healthy child goes to those people who are well-connected and influential. I got three offers and all the three children had health issues. I had to refuse ­because I couldn바카라�t provide that kind of medical care to the children,바카라� she says.  

A lawyer working with a care home says that after it came to light that direct ­adoption from agencies causes corruption, it was felt that all the orphanages should be brought under CARA. 바카라�It was a good decision for the purpose of monitoring, but this has caused several new challenges. One of them is a long wait after which couples get disappointed and look ­elsewhere,바카라� he says.

(This appeared in the print edition as "Preying on Desperation")

ALSO READ