Abandoned 7-yr-old spl child adopted by Danish woman
PRAYAGRAJ: Shunned and abandoned by his parents when he was just six days old, sevenyear-old differently abled Munnu is all smiles today.
After spending life as he has known it in a government-run shelter, Munnu is all set to fly to Denmark with his new mother Carina Lykke Rasmussen and grandmother, Hedda, who have come all the way to Sangam city to formally adopt him and take him home, in Esbjerg, a picturesque seaport town of Denmark.
Munnu, who was born without complete legs or hands (he is missing both legs below the knee and had fingers all joined that required him to undergo surgery), was found abandoned when he was only six-days-old at a secluded spot in Balia in 2013. He was moved to Varanasi before being brought to Prayagraj by volunteers of Childline India, an NGO working to help children in distress.
“I am very happy. I will be flying in an aeroplane with my mummy,” said Munnu, a name given to him by government officials at Prayagraj’s Rajkiya Bal Greh in Khuldabad, which has been his home for more than six years.
As Carina was formally handed over the child by Pankaj Kumar Mishra, district probation officer, and Harish Kumar Srivastava, superintendent of the Rajkiya Bal Greh, Khuldabad, on Thursday, the 49-yearold certified Orthotist and prosthetist was emotional. The day had come after clearing a longdrawn and stringent adoption process laid down by the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA), an autonomous and statutory body of union ministry of women and child development.
“It was almost 10 years ago that I had applied to adopt a child with special needs. Having spent 25 years making and fitting braces and splints (orthoses) besides artificial limbs (prostheses) for people with disabilities, I wanted to love, care and provide a home to one such special child,” Carina said, who will be bringing up Munnu as a single parent.
Initially, I was on a waitlist for a child from Ethiopia for few years but then was in line for a child from India for years. It was only in November 2019 that I was informed that the process was finally complete and I had the requisite court orders for adopting the child. However, the Coronavirus outbreak and travel restrictions delayed things.