Change of heart: Chitral family refuses to give up newborn

Despite father signing an adoption agreement

CHITRAL: The parents of a newborn boy, who they had given up for adoption, have had a change of heart and have refused to hand him over to his adoptive parents.

An infertile Dubai-based family —  through a local agent in the district — had decided to adopt a baby boy from a poor family in Singoor village of Chitral.

An agreement in this regard had been finalised between the adoptive family and the boy’s father a month before the child was born, local witnesses said.

The adopting family had flown into Chitral from Sialkot a few days before the boy was born and visited the mother in the hospital.

As the family prepared for their flight to Lahore and then on to Dubai, trouble brewed in the boy’s biological family. His mother, after learning that her child had been taken away by her family and given to someone else for money, fell unconscious.

This forced the boy’s family to reconsider their agreement and decided against giving the boy up for adoption, the local added.

The boy’s father, who is a daily-wager with six other children, told The Express Tribune by phone that the adopting family had presented them with a lucrative offer, promising a good upbringing for the child and the best nourishing environment in Dubai.

“I agreed [to the adoption] but kept the mother out of the loop about the agreement. But my family found out about the agreement and they told the district authority, and now we have the baby,” he said.

The district Child Protection Officer told The Express Tribune that adoption of the child was legal since they had a written agreement, but owing to the family’s agitation, the process had been halted and the mother had been reunited with her newborn.

This is not the first time that such an incident took place where parents, who could not afford the cost of raising a child, giving them a good education, food and proper housing to their children agree to give their children up for adoption to families not from the district, the child protection officer said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2017.