KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Nov 5: A rush of issueless parents to Seraikela Sadar Hospital has begun since Thursday morning following an advertisement by the district child protection officer for tracing out the biological parents of a newborn baby boy.
The baby which weighed 2.2 kgs was found in an abandoned state from a bush along the Subernarekha river at Dumdumi village under Nimdih thana area in the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district about 45 kms away from here on October 24.
An issueless couple of the Dumdumi village had recovered the child and had kept with them before a team of local police took the child from the couple and handed it over to the Department of Social Welfare, Women & Child Development, Seraikela-Kharsawan on Wednesday.
The District Child Protection Officer, Seraikela-Kharsawan, Santosh Kumar Thakur who took the custody of the child lodged him in the children’s ward of the Seraikela Sadar Hospital.
Having taken custody of the child, the district Child Protection Officer also inserted an advertisement, seeking public support for tracing out the biological parents of the newborn.
“Ever since the advertisement was published on Thursday, I am getting numerous calls from the aspiring parents of the child who is now under our custody. But I have replied each and every caller to wait for next month for adopting the child. During this one month, we will wait for the biological parents of the child, ” said Thakur.
The District Child Protection officer said the child in question will not be given to any aspiring parents simply because they want to adopt him.
“Any interested couple whether issueless or not will have to get themselves registered by logging in cars. nic. in and will have to meet the required criteria. Moreover, it is not certain that any registered applicant will be able to get the child even after meeting all the criteria, as the government gives priority to those who had registered themselves earlier, ” explained Thakur.
The district child protection officer, when queried, said they knew it very well that the child concerned must have been born out of an illicit relationship and tracing out its biological parents is almost impossible but still they had to follow the official procedure.
Since the advertisement along with the mobile numbers of Thakur was published in the local vernacular dailies on Thursday, he has received over 50 calls seeking information about the child and as many couples had visited the Seraikela Sadar Hospital’s children ward to have a glimpse of the child.
