2 weeks Ago By Amisha Rajani
Representative image HYDERABAD: Legal and behavioural experts have raised red flags over a purported "bonding" session under surveillance between around 15 "rescued" children and couples accused of paying child traffickers in Delhi and Pune Rs 5-8 lakh each to facilitate their adoption. Based on the interaction, these couples could be allowed to take home the kids they were separated from six months ago. The children, who are between seven months and four years old, have been in state-run shelters since a crackdown on the racket led police to their adoptive parents' doorsteps in Hyderabad.
Medchal-Malkajgiri child welfare committee (CWC) decided to organise the bonding session after Telangana high court gave it the responsibility of deciding the 15 kids' future. "The children and the couples will be put in a room. If we see an emotional connection, we will send them home together," said the committee's chairperson, A M Raja Reddy.
The exercise is scheduled for the weekend in a govt office at Alwal, a Hyderabad suburb. "The decision is based on humanitarian grounds. These children have already stayed with the adoptive families, a few for as long as three years.
But we need to evaluate the parents' behaviour before taking a call." According to lawyers, the move is fraught with legal risks given the fact that the police investigation revealed money changing hands between traffickers and the adoptive parents. "We understand the need for these children to grow up in a family environment, but are we setting the right precedent by rewarding those who were on the wrong side of law in the first place? This could be misused in the future," said a district magistrate.
Akshay Mehra of the Commission for Child Protection and Rights said the legal complexities were hard to ignore. "To a layperson, this (letting the kids reunite with those who illegally adopted them) might seem like the best solution. CWC's role is to ensure what's good for the children, but courts need to step in to address the broader legal implications and set clear guidelines for future cases," he said.
"Will they treat future cases of child trafficking in a similar manner?" CWC officials said the adoptive parents were being charged only for failing to adhere to adoption procedures, not for trafficking. When TOI reached out to some of the couples, they claimed to have acted in accordance with the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA). "These children were handed to us by their biological parents because they couldn't care for them.
We followed all legal formalities under HAMA. My daughter is four years old, and we have raised her as our own. The last six months without her have been unbearable," one of the adoptive parents said.
They jointly filed a petition in the high court recently, seeking custody of the kids that were separated from them. Behavioural expert Shazia Gilani said determining the bond between parents and children in such cases could be challenging. "Attachment in children is formed through consistent caregiving, comfort, and security.
However, this bond can be influenced by various factors, such as the length of separation, changes in their environment, and the emotional state of both the child and caregiver," she said. "Children might also show some confusion or distress when reunited with parents they haven't seen in months. These nuances make it difficult to assess the true nature of the bond, based on a brief interaction.
Ideally, such evaluations should be done over a longer period in a supportive and controlled environment." Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India . Don't miss daily games like Crossword , Sudoku , and Mini Crossword .
.
