A girl child, nearly six-month-old, was found in the Ammathottil electronic cradle of the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare at Thycaud here on Saturday morning.
This is the third time since the Ammathottil was set up in the State capital over two decades ago, on November 14, 2002, that a slightly older infant has been found in it. A four-year-old girl left in the cradle in 2003 and a five-month-old boy found in it in May last year were the oldest children so far. Most of the children found in the cradle are newborns.
It is after a gap of two months that the baby girl was found in the cradle. The last infant received here was in December 19 last year.
As soon as the alarm intimating the arrival of a child in the council adoption centre went off, the staff on duty rushed the child to Women and Children Hospital, Thycaud, for a medical examination.
The girl who has been named Prakruthi is healthy at 6.2 kg, council general secretary G.L. Arun Gopi said in a statement here.
She is the 592nd child to be received in the Ammathottil since it was set up in 2002, the 10th child and only the third girl child to be received in the past eight months.
As her adoption proceedings were set to get under way, any claimants to her should get in touch with the council immediately, Mr. Arun Gopi said.
As many as 63 children have been adopted from the council in the past year. These include 10 children who have been adopted by families abroad.