Across Telangana in all 324 abandoned children were found during the past one year. Alarmingly 226 or 70% of those abandoned were girl children, data collated under Integrated Child Development Scheme run in the State revealed.
From year 2013 to 2017, over 1,500 children were found abandoned at childcare homes called Shishu gruhas and in cradle or Uyyala project introduced by the ICDS earlier. The State Government has been asking parents to surrender their babies to women and child welfare authorities concerned to prevent infanticide.
In 2016 and 2017 at least a dozen newborns were abandoned at pitiable locations including public dustbins and dumpyards. Child abandonment rates are high in tribal belts in Telangana including those in Nalgonda and Mahbubnagar which contributed the highest number.
“Child abandonment increases when there are more children per family than those the parents can feed. Moral issues like in the case of unwanted pregnancy in unwed mothers too could result in child abandonment,” said Nileena Mehta, a child rights activist from the ICDS, New Delhi, who took stock of State performance in childcare.
Falling adoption rates
Across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, adoption rates had fallen by 30% from 2009 to 2015. When it comes to girl child, adoptions are at an abysmal low of 15%. If the trend continues the State will have to increase its maintenance budget by 20% to provide for the rising number of abandoned children living in care homes.
This, even as Telangana has fared better than States including Bihar, Jharkhand, Goa, Uttarakhand and seven of the North-East Indian States.
Telangana, like other south Indian States including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, had maintained a child adoption rate higher than States in north India.
According to the ICDS officials children with congenital diseases too get abandoned as parents cannot afford treatment.
Awareness drive
“Awareness drives should be held in rural areas to help mothers take children to government hospitals for treatment instead of abandoning them. Parents usually discard children with heart diseases because they find treatment too expensive to carry forward,” Ms. Mehta said.
In the State, the ICDS has been taking care of ailing children with the aid of government funds, she added.
In 2016, according to National Crime Records Bureau, 11 million children were found to be orphans across India. “A good number among these children are those abandoned by parents who are still alive,” Ms. Mehta pointed out.
