By the time he died at the age of 60 in July 2012, the prolonged litigation with the government lasting over two decades had taken its toll on Vipinachandran’s life.
The emotional and mental trauma had its impact on his wife Geetha as well. She had coped with the death of their newborn twins whom she never saw followed by three successive miscarriages.
“But those tough times steeled us. We decided that we will not lead a lonely, childless life and brought home our four-year-old foster child Sumesh (name changed). Unfortunately, my husband was destined to only a month of happiness,” Geetha, a resident of Ponekkara, recollected calmly, on the sidelines of a family meet of foster children and parents here on Saturday.
Six years since that painful separation from her husband, Geetha has now secured the permanent guardianship of Sumesh and is a doting mother who has given up her job for her son, who is as inquisitive as he is bright. “From radio and refrigerator to mobile phones, he dismantles everything to know how they work. I didn’t want to leave him alone at home for a moment and hence left my job,” said Geetha.
Six years after bringing their then 10-year-old foster child Maya (name changed) to their house at Palakkad, K. Vasanthan and wife A.K. Santha is in the process of completing formalities for securing her permanent guardianship.
A childless couple, they had gone on a futile search for a foster child for a decade before resigning to a lonely life. But Vasanthan’s colleagues at the health department encouraged them to renew their pursuit. It was then they came across the photographs of 13 children available for foster care in Aluva.
“It was instant bonding the moment we saw her and shortly thereafter she was at our home,” said Santha.
But it was not an easy ride as Maya had had an emotionally scarred childhood and was moody and did not open up easily.
She then wanted a younger sibling and the couple brought home a boy as their foster son. Maya then had a change of heart and the boy had to be sent back, which remains a painful memory for Santha. Teenage brought its own set of problems and at one point the Child Welfare Committee even advised them to return the child if she was proving hard to manage.
But their perseverance, boundless love and countless counselling sessions turned things around and Maya is now an enthusiastic Plus Two student.
The family meeting on Saturday would have witnessed a unique reunion had the family who had taken Maya’s younger sister on foster care turned up. But it was not to be and Maya was disheartened. But, having survived bigger setbacks, she seemed sure to outlive this one too.
