Ashraya Children’s Home in India Closes to Adoption

“They once resounded with the laughter of playful children. Now, Ashraya Children’s Home in Indira Nagar and Vatsalya Charitable Trust in HRBR Layout stand deserted. The homes closed adoption services for a simple reason: lack of children.

Adoptive parents, though, are many: two years after shutting, they still get calls every day from couples who want to adopt kids.

“What do we do? We have no kids. Over the past three years, we’ve stopped adoption services as the number of children sent from the Child Welfare Committee declined gradually. We made sure all the kids who were with us were adopted, before we wound up,” said Shanthi Chacko, one of the founders of Ashraya.

The home played a major role in inter-country adoption services, finding homes for many abandoned children with special needs.

Vatsalya, with 25 years of experience in adoption, is empty. “We are ready to counsel couples on adoption, but we have no kids. We are experts in the field. Gone are the days when we coordinated over 80 adoptions a year.

It gradually reduced to 20 in the past four years,” says Mary Paul, who runs the NGO.

Does that mean the number of abandoned babies has come down? “Maybe not. Just because we aren’t getting children doesn’t mean all kids are safe. It might be an indication of illegal placement of kids,” says Chacko.”

With no kids, NGOs give up adoption[The Tmes of India 11/23/14 by Rodith BR]

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