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Adoption licence of children's home in Goa suspended

Special Correspondent

NGOs and a television channel have raised doubts regarding its operations

PANAJI: The Government on Monday suspended the in-country adoption licence issued to "Preet Mandir," a children's home, and ordered an inquiry into its functioning.

The decision comes in the wake of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and a television channel raising doubts regarding its operations in Pune.

Santosh Vaidya, secretary, Women and Child Development, told The Hindu on Tuesday that he would conduct an inquiry to verify the facts regarding the operations of the children's home.

The decision was taken after NGOs associated with childcare and welfare submitted a memorandum to Chief Secretary J. P. Singh on Monday. They demanded that the adoption licence should be revoked and a probe conducted.

Mr. Vaidya said the Government would look into the issues raised by the news channel regarding the adoption process adopted by the children's home.

The Government had taken a serious view of the issue as the children's home had a branch in the State, which was issued a licence some time ago, he said.

Nishta Desai of Children's Rights in Goa (CRG) said that some of the NGOs had raised an alarm following a case around a year ago, in which a mother, who was a minor, hailing from Karnataka alleged that her baby was taken away for adoption by an NGO from Vasco in south Goa and "Preet Mandir" in north Goa.

The baby was returned to the mother only after the intervention of various organisations, including CRG.

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