Sadness in celebration

We placed our first child in #adoption and it’s a moment to #celebrate, but there is an element of sadness within me which I will come to explain a little later in this write up.

After waiting for 16 years to obtain an adoption agency #license to cater exclusively to adoption eligible children with #specialneeds, little did I know then that it would take 26 months to place the first child in a loving home through adoption.

The first hurdle we faced was the amendment of the Act in the Indian #Parliament, under which we work. Just around the time we got the license, the JJ Act was amended and the new adoption regulations were released. Lots of new regulations required the Government’s intervention to appoint, train, and empower people based on the new regulations, which took time.

Secondly, since we only cater to children with special needs (some came in quite sickly), it required some amount of time to ensure their correct diagnoses were made and appropriate treatments were extended for each and every child. Some were so sick that we couldn’t save them – six to be precise.

Along with these challenges was the challenge of funding – Yes, it is a self-funded adoption agency, and we had worked extra hard to raise the needed resources to keep our operations afloat.

Being through these challenges, seeing a child in the loving arms of her adoptive parents was something we’ll cherish and never forget. It was an inter-country and inter-racial adoption.

Our hearts were filled with a sense of gratitude for all those who supported us throughout these two years. I cannot thank everyone by name but it would be an injustice if I don’t call out one entity without whom we couldn’t do this work. It is my beloved alma mater - Christian Medical College (CMC Vellore), a super specialty healthcare facility in Vellore which extends medical care to our children unconditionally based on its motto 'Not to be ministered unto, but to minister'.

As we were about to say goodbye to this little baby, a flood of emotions came over me. One of the fundamental principles of adoption in India prescribes that as far as possible, a child be placed in his/ her socio-cultural milieu. Why couldn’t an Indian family come forward to adopt her? Did we as an organization/ state/ country do everything to fulfil that principle? Will she be resentful when she grows up?

I didn’t know what to make of these feelings except to let them sink in deeper to strengthen my resolve to work harder to get there, sooner than later.