Child abandonment-The Hindu-03-10-2022

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SOCIAL ISSUE :
CONTEXT :
Last month in Tamil Nadu, a two-year-old girl was found alone in a government bus. The crying toddler was handed over to the Dharmapuri police station which traced her mother with the help of CCTV footage. The mother said that after a quarrel with her husband she had tried to abandon their child on the bus.

PRELIM AND MAINS :

BACKGROUND
Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring in an illegal way, with the intent of never resuming or reasserting guardianship. The phrase is typically used to describe the physical abandonment of a child. Still, it can also include severe cases of neglect and emotional abandonment, such as when parents fail to provide financial and emotional support for children over an extended period of time.
Foundling, baby dumping, and rehoming when adoptive parents use illegal means, such as the internet, to find new homes for their children are case of child abandonment.

Most common reasons for child abandonment
Unwanted pregnancy
Another A common cause for child abandonment would be unwanted pregnancies—the most significant factor being rape and pregnancy in minors. Women and girls frequently feel alone and uncertain about what to do in such circumstances. And when it comes to this, parents often react differently to unwanted pregnancy.
Parents who don’t want to be tied down.
Even if you were parents who actively and consciously plan and to have a child, the reality and experience of being a parent can be extremely daunting as a first-timer. Although it can happen anytime, on average, even before the child’s first birthday, child abandonment is more likely to happen. Parents might choose to pick up and leave their responsibilities behind even if the child has grown up to be four or ten years old.

Abandonment as a way to start over for parents with relationship problems
It is important to look at parent relationship issues as a potentially root cause to gain a full understanding of child abandonment. Separations, cheating, complicated divorce proceedings, and conflicts over child support and custody disputes often become so daunting that a parent decides to leave.

Parents have a history of mental health problems.
Parental mental illness may have come full circle with how their parents raised them with the possibility of the parents being a result of child abandonment or neglect as well.
Financial issues
Lower Socio-Economic status like poverty, marginalisation and a lack of resources are common reasons why one or both parents would succumb to abandoning their child.

Drug abuse and alcoholism
Abuse of drugs and social exclusion seems to go hand in hand. If either or both parents struggle with their alcohol or drug consumption, they may also challenge their children’s circumstances.

WAY AHEAD :

Provide access to essential care services such as education, health and nutrition services for the children by supporting school fees, provision of books and stationaries, tuition support, providing basic nutrition care along with making the existing health care services in the community more accessible to them
Building capacities of the caregivers by equipping them with appropriate parenting skills and family counselling to resolve issues, and household management skills
Support caregivers in enhancing their livelihoods through Self Help Groups (SHGs) mechanism created with the caregivers in order to ensure financial stability. SHGs are micro-credit units which promote savings and inter-loaning at meagre interest rates to their members.