J&K government should set up an adoption agency for abandoned newborns, experts suggested on Tuesday at a time when the Valley has seen more than a dozen cases of infants being dumped at hospitals.
Senior journalist Bilal Bhat who was one of the resource persons at one-day workshop on Juvenile Justice Act, organized by Greater Kashmir, in collaboration with the NGO, Save the Children, referred to a provision in Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), the Specialized Adoption Agency, for taking care of unclaimed babies.
This facility, he said, allows a mother to leave her child in a cradle outside the hospital and she can’t be questioned. “It is a cradle baby reception centre under which a cradle with a hanging bell is put outside a hospital,” he said.
In past one and a half years at least 16 abandoned babies were abandoned outside the hospital In Kashmir. In absence of the adoption agency these newborns are kept in hospitals, and often they become prone to infections.
Bhat, a child right expert, also spoke about concept of kinship care for the orphan children.
Vikram Srivastava, who is consultant at Save the Children, said described kinship care as a form of alternative care.
Explaining, Vikram termed kinship care as an arrangement under which a child, in absence of parents’ care or other persons with parental responsibility is brought up under the care of a relative, friend or other connected person.
Shareef Bhat, general manger Save the Children said since the government has started implementation of the ICPS in J&K the focus should be on kinship care and Specialized Adoption Agency.