MARGAO: The Goa State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (GSCPCR) has issued a ‘crucial’ public advisory regarding ‘an alarming rise in unlawful adoption practices’.
GSCPCR Chairperson Peter Borges stated that the Commission has identified a concerning trend within the State, especially in South Goa district, where childless couples are involved in unauthorised adoption practices, posing significant risks to the well-being of vulnerable children.
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“Unlawful adoption practices present a substantial challenge, involving the bypassing of established legal procedures. This unethical trend, often driven by childless couples using unauthorized methods, undermines the legal safeguards meant to protect both children and adopting families,’ Borges said.
“The associated risks go beyond immediate consequences, exposing vulnerable children to potential exploitation through deceptive means. This not only endangers their well-being but also poses a threat to community integrity, with profound implications for trust in legal adoption processes,” Borges added.
The GSCPCR also broke down modus operandi. The first being about target selection and the engagement of Intermediaries. “Middlemen identify families in vulnerable conditions, particularly those residing on the streets or facing financial hardship, as potential targets. These middlemen assess their susceptibility and willingness to surrender infants for adoption and employ deceptive means to persuade the vulnerable families into willingly relinquishing their infants for adoption,” GSCPCR said.
The second was about how they avoid legal adoption procedures. “Childless couples, with middlemen initiate contact with targeted families and establish a network with these intermediaries to streamline the adoption process. They sidestep established legal adoption procedures to escape scrutiny and official documentation and opt for unauthorized methods to expedite the adoption process beyond the boundaries of the legal framework,” GSCPCR added while explaining how it is done.
These middlemen then develop a systematic strategy to produce fake legal documents, falsely indicating that the child was born at home and then present these counterfeit documents to authorities, falsely portraying the child as the biological offspring of the adopting couple. They use the fabricated documents to apply for passports, facilitating the couple’s travel abroad with the adopted child and leverage the perceived legitimacy of the false documents to navigate immigration processes,” GSCPCR added.
These middlemen further exploit weaknesses in the scrutiny process of offices such as the civil registrar at the municipalities and other birth registration authorities and capitalise on the lack of thorough examination of documents submitted for birth registration, it added.
The Commission has strongly urged childless couples to strictly follow legal adoption procedures, collaborating with reputed adoption agencies to ensure the safety and well-being of both the children and adoptive parents.
They appealed to report any information or witness accounts of suspicious adoption activities immediately to the law enforcement agencies or child protection agencies, such as the Child Welfare Committee and District Child Protection Unit. Vigilance is crucial in protecting vulnerable children, it said.
Borges has appealed to childless couples considering adoption to seek guidance from Matruchaya, in Ponda, Caritas Goa, in Panjim, and both the District Child Protection Units for assistance with the adoption process.
