How Could You? Hall of Shame-India-Shishu Sadan

 

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Rampur, India, “inside state-run Shishu Sadan, scores of children – from infants to six-year-olds — are living in inhuman conditions.”

“As many as 14 kids are stuffed inside a small room, fed biscuits half-eaten by rats and given medicines that are long past their expiry date. These are the findings of a report by the city’s additional chief magistrate who inspected the place recently. The orphanage had been in the news in 2012 when a two-year-old girl died here due to dehydration. Since then, it was being referred to as a ‘kasai khana'(butcher-house) by locals. And now, the report seems to have confirmed their fears. “I had visited the orphanage several times to distribute food and clothes to the children. Each time, I found their condition had become worse. In fact, the place had become simply a dumping ground for kids,” said Vijay Verma of Jaago India, a social service organisation.

According to the report, the children had not been vaccinated for polio nor could the nurse posted there provide any records of previous vaccinations. The medicine cabinets, too, were extremely dirty – when the magistrate opened one, he found it was stocked with medicines that were not fit to be used. A city-based pediatrician, who did not wish to be named, said that was hardly surprising. “Many children were suffering from malnutrition when I was called to inspect them a few years ago. Due to the constant stress in which they were living, a few of them seemed to have lost their mental balance as well,” he said. ”

Rampur orphanage a den of horrors[The Times of India 10/5/14 by TNN]

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