Angul: The word ‘Mother’ or ‘Mom’ is always considered to be an epitome of love, sacrifice, affection and unquestioned bonding. However, these days the number of cases of mom’s abandoning their newborns seems to be on the rise, particularly in Angul district. In the past five years 36 such abandoned children have been rescued. However, there are no records of those who haven’t been rescued and died an untimely death.
The number of newborns in Angul district is increasing and so are the abandoned babies who are being rescued from the city and its suburbs. While the lives of 36 newborns have been saved, hundreds have been found dead in the past five years. The whereabouts 22 infants – 13 girls and nine boys—are not known. On the other hand, officials of Angul district administration said that the remaining 14 – nine girls and five boys – have been sent to foster homes.
Most of the abandonments have their roots linked to poverty with the family not having the financial ability to look after the child. Also unwanted pregnancy before marriage leads to the abandonment of babies.
Intellectuals blame the lack of awareness behind such brutality. According to them, such incidents of abandoning newborn babies are on the rise in Angul for some time now.
Recently, a dead newborn dumped in a plastic bag was found in a busy market place in this city. A few days later, another infant was rescued from the roadside and taken to a hospital but died while undergoing treatment.
The lives of these children could have been saved had the administration been more careful. Intellectuals have demanded the district administration to pay more attention to this issue and also build an awareness campaign over dumping of babies.
Senior official of the Juvenile Justice Board Anil Kumar Mishra is of the opinion that parents, in case, they find it difficult to raise a baby should approach the administration. And it is the duty of the authorities to help them out. The administration should hand over the baby to the Special Advisory Agency (SA). It will increase the chances of a bright future for the newborn.
Anupama Raut, the top boss of NGO, Jita is of the opinion that abandonments are occurring as many think of a baby as a burden. “Mothers who think of the baby as a burden can give it to the Child Welfare Committee (WCD). The focus should be to spread awareness and work together towards the protection and care of children,” she said.
Adoption is another way to save the life of a newborn. Many childless couple these days want to adopt a child. However most of the time they are trapped by greedy middlemen. “Couples should adopt a kid legally from a registered adoption centre,” said Sudarshan Parida, a manager at an adoption centre. “That way it will ensure a safe and bright future for the baby,” he said.