Three-and-a-half-year-old Navitha bade farewell to her friends at the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare after she was adopted by an American couple of Indian descent on Tuesday.
At a function held at the council hall, general secretary S.P. Deepak, treasurer G. Radhakrishnan and executive committee member R. Raju formally handed over the child to 42-year-old Emily Kuriakose, a lab technician with Malayali lineage, who is settled in Texas, United States (U.S.).
She was accompanied by her parents Kuriakose and Mariamma, who have been settled in the U.S. for around four decades, in the absence of her husband Preji Kuriakose, an IT professional, who has his roots in Madhya Pradesh.
One-year process
According to Mr. Kuriakose, who hails from Mallapally in Pathanamthitta, the formalities pertaining to the adoption process had begun a year ago. The couple has a seven-year-old daughter, Julia, whom they had adopted in Pondicherry. They intend to return to the U.S. along with Navitha on Wednesday.
Since the present governing council had taken charge on December 30, as many as 11 children have been adopted. It was only two weeks ago that sisters Veni, 6, and Rani, 5, had been adopted by a native of New Zealand.
