In Kerala, social media is rife with messages about adoption of children orphaned by COVID-19 pandemic

Ever since his return from West Asia early this year, Pretheesh J. Pillai, a Kochi-based expatriate, has received at least two messages about children who lost their parents to the COVID-19 pandemic being available for adoption. Social media messages about children orphaned by the pandemic and available for adoption seek to tap into the impatience over this long wait by dangling an avenue to bypass it. Realising that the pandemic and the resultant lockdown disrupted that system, we have instituted a WhatsApp-based helpline to report children orphaned by the pandemic, while we have also given specialised training to our child protection officers to handle the new challenge," said T. V. Anupama, director of the department. There are three options for similarly orphaned children, with the first preference being to put them in the care of immediate family and relatives provided they are willing to take care of the child. Details of children handed over to the specialised adoption agencies, the number of which has now been restricted to one for each district, are uploaded on the CARA website and once they are declared legally free by CWC, they will be made available for adoption.