Wednesday Weirdness-Entitlement in India

Welcome to Wednesday Weirdness, a recurring theme where we post something truly weird and wacky in adoption or child welfare.

Today’s installment is about entitlement to a child. We call this one “Finders Keepers.”

From Mother of five girls thought abandoned baby boy was hers for keeps [Bangalore Mirror 10/10/11 by Manjunath L Hanji & Arunkumar B H]:

“She has five daughters of her own but desperately craved a son. She could be forgiven for thinking Providence had heard her prayers when she found an abandoned baby boy near her house. But Lakshmamma (38) had her hopes dashed by the state’s adoption rules. In the case of abandoned babies, the child welfare committee ‘adopts’ a first come-first served policy, and Lakshmamma is nowhere near the top of the list.

The distraught woman was at Vani Vilas Hospital for all of Saturday, clinging to the hope that the infant would be handed over to her after the doctors had given it a clean bill of health. But the baby had bruises on its body and was suffering from hypothermia, and it was decided to keep it under observation for a couple of days. “God has answered my prayers and I must have the baby. Even my children have stopped eating after the police took it to the hospital. If anyone helps me (with the adoption), I will touch their feet,” Lakshmamma, who is uneducated and a daily wager, told Bangalore Mirror.


Early on Saturday, a four-wheeler stopped near Lakshmamma’s house in Ganapati Halli on the city’s outskirts and some unknown persons alighted. Her dog started barking and wouldn’t let up, but Lakshmamma and other members of her family did not think much of it. However, they were in for a surprise when one of them found a baby lying under a nearby banyan tree.

It was a baby boy and Lakshmamma, her maternal instincts aroused, took it in.A couple of hours later, the police, who had been informed of the incident, arrived and took the baby to Vani Vilas Hospital.

While Lakshmamma accompanied the cops to the hospital, her family were on tenterhooks awaiting the outcome of the case, and even left off eating for all of Saturday.

But her pale face when she returned bespoke her dismay more than words could. “I was so happy that God had given us a baby brother. But that was not to be,” bemoaned Manjula, her 15-year-old daughter.

Clarifying the official stand, Child Welfare Committee member P N Basavaraj said, “We face a lot of problems in adoption cases.

We get around 100 applications every year, while the number of abandoned babies is around 15. Of these, most are baby girls. In such circumstances, we go by a first come-first served thumb rule. Besides, the woman has not made out an application for adoption.”

Meanwhile, Vani Vilas Hospital superintendent Dr Somegouda told this paper that the baby’s parameters were normal and it would likely be handed over to the Child Welfare Committee on Monday.”