Female Foeticide and Infanticide in India.

Usha and The Rational Fool have written touching posts on Female Foeticide and Female Infanticide in India. Thought provoking.

Ushas post touches on why Indians seem to prefer a male child and wonders what we women can do to change the situation.

We can be examples of what a woman can be and can do.We can help
change the mindset.Or we can simply ignore the statistic that half a million
girl babies are killed every year and read the supplement on woman power that
came with India Today.

The Rational Fool writes a touching letter to his little sister who is no more. He wonders about the things which force women to abort female foetuses.

I'll pose you a hypothetical situation. Let's say a woman is raped,
and she is pregnant against her will. A staunch feminist, she decides that if it
were a female fetus, she'd carry it to full term, but she's absolutely opposed
to bringing forth a male progeny of the rapist. She wishes to have a gender test
done before she made the choice. I don't think that the State or anyone else has
any business interfering with her choice, do you? Abortion against your will is
a different matter altogether.

Mad Momma joins in.

Don't fool yourself that it's only the poor and uneducated who are
doing it. They can barely afford the sex-determining ultrasound. They throw away
new borns. The foetuses are thrown away by us. The middle class. We're the ones
who can afford the expensive ultrasound in a shady bylane. We're the ones who
have so little value for human life.

DotMom suggests a solution.

I think the only true solution to female infanticide and female
fetus abortion is to give practical solutions. Let’s start by changing the
International Adoption laws in India. It is nearly impossible for international
parents (who are not Indian citizens) to adopt an Indian child today. I know in
the US alone there are long lines at adoption agencies to get a baby. The
adoptive families will be happy to give a sum of money to the mother of the girl
child for her routine medical care, food etc, along with footing any other
medical bills and then some. Isn’t this a sensible solution?

My two cents on this topic - I do think literacy is the solution. Making education compulsory for all children and strict laws against child labor might help. But then, bribe and dowry are illegal in India. Child labor is illegal. Female foeticide and sex determination tests are also illegal. But are all these laws stopping anyone? I mean, the doctors who are performing the illegal abortions and the ultra sound technicians who are performing the illegal gender determining scans are educated, right? What good is that doing? I think the laws should be more strict on these people first. On an individual level, we all can help by sponsoring a girl child. Its a start.

Do leave your valuable suggestions, solutions or any other information on these issues in any of the above blogs or here. Let us be the change.

What a Wonderful world!

Visitor had sent me a link where an American couple have adopted a boy from India and while reading that blog, it led me to couple of other people whom have also adopted children from India. Its absolutely touching to read them and their entire journey just amazed me. My belief in God has been strengthened after reading these blogs.

Do check out the fascinating stories of
Sananda,
Samedh and
Ben.

Congrats!

Uma describes the first time she saw Baby A at the adoption agency.

It was a sunlit Friday morning, a morning perfect for love. Baby A was asleep, his pink cheeks flushed with the heat, but as we bent over him to look at his tiny sleeping form, he opened his eyes. We took him all around the neighbouring school campus. He looked at the trees, crows, children with sleepy interest. He smiled.

Congratulations Uma on the new addition to your family. Wishing the baby everything wonderful!

Adoption in India.

The Visitor has done a fantastic job by putting together some information on how to go about Adoption in India. I am reproducing the entire post here as per his(?) suggestion.

Please do leave a link in the comment box if any of you have any relevant information.

Thanks a tonne, Visitor.

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Today CNN-IBN was flashing a 'news' item about baby Shiv being given for adoption to a family after a court battle - read Court gives abandoned baby to millionaire family.

In my youth, after reading 'inspirational stories' in Reader's Digest, in a bout of idealism, I too had often harboured visions of having adopted children. I remember that some friends of ours, a childless couple by choice, had adopted a boy and a girl. I used to be surprised that they had decided to have only adopted children, because I think it requires mental maturity and strength to be able to do it. Today, if I ask myself whether I am mentally prepared to adopt a child, my response would be no. I think I dont possess the mental reserve to take up such a commitment.

From what they said, I gathered that the legal adoption process in India, was a rigorous and often times a time-consuming process. And not without reason - they check the background of the prospective parents, their marital stability, financial stability, mental preparedness and various other parameters.

Recently in Indian Mommies, in a debate on whether one should have the second baby or not, some mommies had expressed the desire to adopt a second child.

I thought it might be useful to share some information regarding the adoption process in India. (Courtesy: Google) :)

To start with one can see the FAQ section of indianngos.com - which gives a brief outline of the process through its FAQ.

ICHILD - India Adoption Resources - is a website and mailing list, that gives support to persons who are thinking of adoption. I quote from their web-site:

The purpose of the ICHILD WEB SITE & MAILING LISTS would hopefully be to offer a source of inspiration, information, support & resources for those interested in adoption from India and the subcontinent. And of course, to help bring together prospective adoptive parents and children in India who wait for their families.

This link takes you to the adoption process page from their site.

Alliance for Children is an adoption agency that places children with adoptive parents.

The Alliance for Children, Inc. is a non-profit international adoption agency based in Massachusetts, serving families throughout the USA.

We have placed thousands of children from around the world in permanent adoptive homes.

They are currently not accepting applications for adoption of children from India.

Catalysts for Social Action (CSA) - This site also provides some info on in-country adoption process, costs etc.

Catalysts for Social Action (CSA) is a Social Welfare Organization promoted by Kale Consultants Ltd., India, a reputed IT Consulting Company with global presence. CSA commenced operations in September 2002. We work on Child Welfare which includes Adoption, Foster Care, and Institutionalised Rehabilitation. Our specific focus is on Adoption. A key role for us is to work as Catalysts / Change Agents. Our aim is to enhance the total number of adoptions in the country. Also, to work towards better child care while the child is institutionalized.

CARA - Central Adoption Resource Agency - this site provides information on adoption in/from India. One can download relevant forms too from here.

Central Adoption Resource Agency is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Women & Child Development, which functions as the Central Authority of the Government of India in matters related to adoptions.

Read their FAQ.

I have obtained all the above information from the web. The information is neither comprehensive nor definitive.
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