The 13-year-old girl was abandoned by a Spanish couple after they were allegedly deceived about her age.
New Delhi: A month after the Union government sought to bring back an Indian-origin girl adopted and subsequently abandoned by a couple in Spain, it has now emerged that the 13-year-old child does not want to come back to India.
“Our embassy in Spain has informed us that the child is happy there, and does not want to come back to India,” an official in the Women and Child Development Ministry told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
“In fact, we have received applications from at least two to three other Spanish couples who want to adopt her,” the official added.
As reported by ThePrint last month, a Spanish couple had abandoned the girl adopted in January from an agency in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal after they were allegedly deceived about her age.
The girl was then shifted to a government shelter in Spain.
Also read: Spanish couple abandon adopted Indian child, Bhopal agency under the scanner
In a letter dated 27 August to the Indian ambassador to Spain, WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi said, “I request you to contact the girl immediately and take necessary steps to send her back to India where we will place her under care and protection of a suitable local agency.
“It has been ascertained that the girl wants to return to India,” the letter read.
Hague Convention
The child is now a Spanish citizen.
According to Article 21 of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation, in cases where the inter-country adoption goes awry, the central adoption authority in the receiving country (in this case, Spain) should “arrange without delay a new placement of the child with a view to adoption or, if this is not appropriate, to arrange alternative long-term care”.
“An adoption shall not take place until the Central Authority of the State of origin has been duly informed concerning the new prospective adoptive parents,” it adds.
Further, according to the Convention, the return of the child to the country of origin should be arranged only as “a last resort”, if his or her interests so require.
“So the Spanish central authority is in the process of facilitating a new placement of the child, and are in regular contact with the Indian authorities in this regard, as per the convention,” the official told ThePrint.
Also read: Under fire, country’s central adoption agency seeks to increase senior cadre strength
Meanwhile, the ministry is in the final stages of preparing its report against the alleged irregularities and violations by Udaan, the Bhopal-based Special Adoption Agency (SAA) from which the girl was adopted.
An inquiry was initiated against the agency after this case and other alleged irregularities came to light.
Udaan has denied the allegations. While it does not rule out the possibility of the girl’s declared age being false, it, however, said that it is the district Child Welfare Committee that determines the age of a child.
It also said that there has been no irregularity with any of the children adopted and added that it was being falsely targeted for doing appreciable work.