Getting the most out of my experience here

Throughout my time at my internship here, I have had to tred very carefully when I wanted to know more about HIV, AIDS, the red-light district/trafficking of minors, and even more about the orphanage in general. When I first began my work at the orphanage, it was very difficult for me to even talk with anyone about anything. In my opinion, people were not very friendly and open for me to learn new things. As a social work student and as a global citizen, I crave learning new things. I came to India to have new experiences and gain some knowledge about international adoption. The social worker that handles the adoptions at the orphanage was "always busy" and never had time to speak with me. I was told by the nun in charge to play with the babies and teach the girls English.

That being said, I am approaching my last month here in India and I am finally opening up the pathway to knowledge. By sheer coincidence, I have been able to connect with the outreach worker at the orphanage. I'll call her Joanne. She goes to the slums and houses of the families who still have relationships with the girls at the orphanage. She has been wonderful and has been able to put me in contact with the right people. I guess it's always who you know and then after that connection, you're able to get in the door. It has been frustrating for me throughout my experience here but I am glad that I'm finally able to get at least a little bit of information about what St. Catherine's Home does and what the process is for adoption.

Joanne has put me in contact with one of the social workers that helps out with the adoptions. I'll call her Hillary. Behind closed doors and whispered voices, Hillary has been able to tell me how the adoption process works, how children get "dropped off" at the orphanage, what some of the adoption forms look like, and the files that St. Catherine's has on each girl. With every workplace, there is politics. And politics was the reason why those doors had to be shut and our voices had to become whispers when she showed me files and told me about the adoption process.

If anyone's interested about how the adoption process works, keep on reading. Other than that, thanks for reading my blog. There are two ways that babies get "dropped off" at the orphanage. 1) Police find babies who are abandoned and are under safe custody. They bring the babies to the hospital for a check-up then deliver them to the orphanage. 2) Unwed mothers will go to the orphanage a few months before giving birth to the baby. After the child is born, the unwed mothers relinquish the baby to the orphanage. If people find a baby on the streets, they have to go through the police in order to bring it to St. Catherine's. The police then bring the baby to the child welfare committee chair person. The court gives a name to the baby and gives a memo/paperwork to the orphanage. The orphanage is required then to publish pictures of the baby in newspapers and in the media for 4 months. After publishing those pictures for 4 months, they wait one month after the telecast to see if anyone has wanted to claim the baby. Usually this does not happen. After that, the child is free to be adopted by a family. The orphanage then writes information about the court hearings, processes, etc.

When a family wants to adopt a child, they have to keep these things in mind:
1. If a family already has children of the same sex, it's easy to adopt another child. If they have a boy and a girl already, then it's hard to adopt. Parents also have to have a combined salary (I don't know if it's a monthly or annual salary) of 10,000 rupees (about $250 US dollars). The parents also have to invest 10,000 into the child for education, marriage, etc. The combined age of the parents and the child has to be no greater than 90 years. So if the mom & dad are both 40 years old, then they can adopt a child who is 10 years or younger.

Interesting, huh? I thought it was. The politics of the orphanage sure get in the way of actually learning about the orphanage itself but somehow I'm still able to learn a little bit about it. More to come I hope :)