Concerns of Abandoned Children -Their Care and Rehabilitation I NISSMAT PODCAST I

What this session covered

This session took the form of a host interviewing a single guest: a social-work professional who works with a Delhi-based specialised adoption agency caring for abandoned and surrendered children, principally in the zero-to-six age group. The speaker explained what legally constitutes an abandoned child — one left alone whose identity and whereabouts of family are unknown — and walked through the statutory pathway that follows. Police must produce such a child before the Child Welfare Committee, which alone has the power to declare a child abandoned; a child found outside working hours may be sheltered overnight at an institution but must be reported to the Committee within 24 hours. Police register a case and attempt to trace the biological family, a missing-person notice is published, and a waiting period follows — two months for children below two years, four months for older children — before the Committee can declare a child legally free for adoption.

The discussion then turned to the emotional consequences of abandonment: attachment difficulties, anxiety, low self-esteem and social withdrawal, which the speaker said made psychological care the centre's first priority alongside accommodation, nutrition, medical checks, schooling and round-the-clock trained caretakers. The speaker recounted cases of severely injured or medically complex infants who were treated over long periods and subsequently adopted, including by families abroad, and a set of three siblings placed together with an overseas family in keeping with the rule that siblings must not be separated. On obstacles, the speaker observed that adoptive parents strongly prefer infants, leaving older children waiting in institutions, and that children with disabilities at the centre have mostly been adopted by foreign rather than Indian parents. Registration, home-study assessment and matching are conducted through the national online adoption portal, with the full process said to take around two to three years.

On sustainability, the speaker described the difficulty small NGOs face in securing corporate social responsibility funding, arguing that corporates gravitate towards larger, better-known organisations and that adoption lacks the visibility of causes such as education or healthcare; the centre relies chiefly on individual donors and currently receives no government financial support, though its operations are government-regulated. Asked what government could do, the speaker called for wider public awareness of adoption and a smoother process, noting that family tracing can take six to seven months and that DNA test results, routed through forensic laboratories, were said to arrive only after a year, prolonging children's stays in institutional care. The session closed with an account of the organisation's residential centre and its outreach work in a neighbouring resettlement community.

Key points raised

• Only the Child Welfare Committee can declare a child abandoned; police and institutions must produce the child before it, with reporting required within 24 hours when a child is sheltered overnight.
• Before adoption, a notice period applies — two months for children below two years and four months for older children — after which the Committee may declare the child legally free.
• The speaker said adoptive parents prefer infants, leaving older children waiting in institutions, and that children with disabilities at the centre have mostly been adopted by foreign parents.
• The full adoption process through the national online portal was said to take around two to three years from registration.
• The speaker said small child-welfare NGOs struggle to obtain CSR funding because corporates favour larger, better-known organisations; the centre depends on individual donors and receives no government financial support.
• Delays in family tracing (six to seven months) and DNA test reports (said to arrive only after a year) were cited as prolonging children's institutional stays.