It’s a story about an unwed mother and her half courage.
Having shown the guts by giving birth to her baby against all advice, she now intends to ‘donate’ her three-day-old child. Her request -- “I want to donate my child to someone who can treat him well” -- has stumped doctors of a city hospital who admit that this is an unprecedented request.
“She doesn’t want to keep the child. But she says she doesn’t want him to land in a garbage dump either. We have never received such a request to donate a newborn,” said a doctor requesting anonymity.
The woman, in her mid 20s, had fallen in love with a youth with whom she worked. The youth had promised to marry her. But when he heard that his girlfriend was pregnant, he developed cold feet.
“I was three months pregnant that time. It was a tough call -- to go ahead with the delivery or opt for an abortion. I waited for some time, hoping that the child’s father would come back. But when that didn’t happen, I had to take a decision.
Officials of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) too have considered the case as ‘most sensitive’ and gone ahead of the normal course. The child, though being taken into custody, is being mentioned as ‘abandoned’ child. This is to maintain secrecy on the identity of the mother.
{{/usCountry}}Officials of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) too have considered the case as ‘most sensitive’ and gone ahead of the normal course. The child, though being taken into custody, is being mentioned as ‘abandoned’ child. This is to maintain secrecy on the identity of the mother.
{{/usCountry}}“Societal norms for an unwed mother might have stopped the lady from keeping the child. But we see the positive side of it that she at least had the courage to speak up and demand that the child goes into safe hands and not any garbage dump,” said Anshumali Sharma, member CWC and director, Childline.
A female counsellor from Childline met the woman and her family members to enquire whether she was a victim of sexual assault by a known/ unknown person or there was any other fact that was being concealed.
After being convinced, the counsellors of the organisation gave their nod for the adoption of the child, who will be produced before the CWC that has the power to hand it over to a adoption centre.
“In India, celebrities have the courage to become single mother. But for a woman from a mediocre background, this might not be easy. And this woman too might have been in a similar situation,” said Sharma, adding, abandoned children were found in unhygienic places (usually garbage dumps) with severe infection, which will not be the case with this child.