Written by Smriti Gupta, co-founder of WAIC.
Dear WAIC Supporters,
These three powerful stories from Where Are India’s Children are a testament to your support’s immeasurable impact in the lives of vulnerable children. Please consider making a donation to WAIC so WAIC’s work on the ground can continue in FY ’25-26.
A new beginning in a new country for a 4-year old girl with AIDS (Maharashtra)
In January 2019, a 4 year old girl named Deepa was found abandoned. The police brought her to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and she was admitted to a Specialised Adoption Agency (SAA) for care and protection. Her medical examination revealed that she was HIV positive and treatment was started to ensure her health and well-being.
In 2023 WAIC took on Deepa’s case, working with the police and newspapers to track her family. After an intensive search, Deepa’s maternal uncle and grandmother were found, who decided to officially surrender her for adoption. In September 2023, they signed a surrender deed in accordance with the legal requirements, formally relinquishing their legal guardian rights. Finally, in December 2023, the CWC passed the legally free for adoption (LFA) order for Deepa. She has been matched for adoption with a loving family from France, shifting her life’s journey from uncertainty to hope.
Preteen and teen siblings are finally legally free for adoption (Telangana)
Durga (12 year old) and Manjula’s (14 year old) father is an alcoholic and their mother left the family. The girls’ maternal uncle admitted them to a Child Care Institution (CCI, i.e. shelter) in 2021. That’s where the girls would have languished their entire childhood but WAIC picked up their case in September 2023.
WAIC collected the girls’ case history and identified them as potentially eligible for adoption. A WAIC team member produced the case before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU), but the DCPU was not interested in pursuing adoption due to lack of previous adoption cases in the district. The WAIC team member did not give up and continued to sensitize the DCPU about the importance and lifelong benefits of adoption for children. Finally the DCPU reviewed the case and talked to the girls’ father, who surrendered the girls in December 2023. The district CWC declared Durga and Manjula legally free for adoption in March 2024 and they have been entered into the central government’s system to be matched with their forever family.
WAIC team changes mindsets to declare an 8-year old boy free for adoption (Karnataka)
In 2022, an 8 year old boy Dheeraj was discovered by Childline, wandering alone at a railway station with no memory of his family. Dheeraj was placed in a Government Boys Home. In May 2024, WAIC’s team started working on children’s cases in the Government Boys Home and discovered that Dheeraj had no guardians, making him eligible for adoption.
WAIC recommended the case to the district’s Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for an adoption inquiry. However, the initial response from the CWC was not encouraging. They believed that a child of Dheeraj’s age would not get adopted, which is a common mindset among many stakeholders in the child protection space.
Despite this setback, WAIC’s associate continued to advocate for Dheeraj and after one and half months, the CWC finally agreed to proceed with the adoption process. After 4 months of effort by WAIC of placing newspaper advertisements and obtaining a final police report, CWC officially declared Dheeraj legally free for adoption (LFA) in November 2024, almost three years after his rescue! 11 year old Dheeraj is now eligible to be matched with a forever family, which will provide the love and stability he deserves.
We hope these stories gave you a glimpse into the tremendous effort that the WAIC ground team puts in everyday to help abandoned and orphaned children reach the legal adoption pool.
If you are thinking that these children should have come into the legal adoption pool sooner, we agree! Help us reach more children faster by donating right now to the WAIC Spring Fundraiser. We urgently need the funds to continue WAIC’s work into ’25-26.
