MADURAI: The Madurai Network of Positive People's Society is trying to get a girl child, who was adopted by an HIV positive woman, enrolled in school, as the woman was unaware of the consequences when she decided to bring up this orphan as her own, four years ago.
Speaking to TOI, B V Babu, president of the society said that the woman Jaya (name changed) (40) had enrolled in the society in 2009 a few weeks after she tested positive for HIV. "She is one of those lucky ones where the virus had been dormant for over 15 years," said Babu, who himself had tested positive 13 years after being infected.
The woman had told the society members that her husband left her 20 years ago after infecting her with the dreaded
disease. The couple had a daughter, who was married off last year. However, the woman, who was employed as a sweeper in a private nursing home in Vadipatti near Madurai, hid her HIV condition from her daughter's in-laws.
In the meantime, the woman applied for the Rs 1000 assistance given by the government towomen who had been abandoned by their husbands. She had sought Babu's help for obtaining the same. After filing up her application, he asked her to meet him in his office.
"When she came on Tuesday, I was surprised to see her being accompanied by the four-year-old child," he said. When Babu inquired with the woman who the girl was, she told him that it was her daughter. "Immediately, I questioned her how she could have such a daughter of that age when her husband had left her 20 years ago. I even asked her angrily if she had an affair," he said.
That was when the woman broke down and narrated the story of the girl. She told him that the child was abandoned by her biological mother in the hospital where she worked and the authorities entrusted her with the duty of putting the child in the cradle baby scheme. "I did not have the heart to abandon the child and decided to bring her up as my own as she would be of support to me," she said.
Babu said that he found the woman's claims to be genuine and explained to her that what she had done in her ignorance was a grave mistake. She was told that the child would have to pursue a good education to become self-sustained in future. "My only fear is that I will lose this daughter if I have to educate her with the help of officials," Jaya told TOI.
Madurai district social welfare officer M Jayalakshmi told TOI that the woman was not justified in bringing up the child illegally. The child would immediately be handed over to the child welfare committee in Muthupatti and if there are no claimants, then the girl would be produced in court and her foster mother would have to make a claim from there. "If the court deems her unfit to bring up the child, she would come under our care and we will take care of its proper adoption," she said. Enrolling the child in school is not an immediate possibility according to her.
Speaking to TOI, B V Babu, president of the society said that the woman Jaya (name changed) (40) had enrolled in the society in 2009 a few weeks after she tested positive for HIV. "She is one of those lucky ones where the virus had been dormant for over 15 years," said Babu, who himself had tested positive 13 years after being infected.
The woman had told the society members that her husband left her 20 years ago after infecting her with the dreaded
disease. The couple had a daughter, who was married off last year. However, the woman, who was employed as a sweeper in a private nursing home in Vadipatti near Madurai, hid her HIV condition from her daughter's in-laws.
In the meantime, the woman applied for the Rs 1000 assistance given by the government towomen who had been abandoned by their husbands. She had sought Babu's help for obtaining the same. After filing up her application, he asked her to meet him in his office.
"When she came on Tuesday, I was surprised to see her being accompanied by the four-year-old child," he said. When Babu inquired with the woman who the girl was, she told him that it was her daughter. "Immediately, I questioned her how she could have such a daughter of that age when her husband had left her 20 years ago. I even asked her angrily if she had an affair," he said.
That was when the woman broke down and narrated the story of the girl. She told him that the child was abandoned by her biological mother in the hospital where she worked and the authorities entrusted her with the duty of putting the child in the cradle baby scheme. "I did not have the heart to abandon the child and decided to bring her up as my own as she would be of support to me," she said.
Babu said that he found the woman's claims to be genuine and explained to her that what she had done in her ignorance was a grave mistake. She was told that the child would have to pursue a good education to become self-sustained in future. "My only fear is that I will lose this daughter if I have to educate her with the help of officials," Jaya told TOI.
Madurai district social welfare officer M Jayalakshmi told TOI that the woman was not justified in bringing up the child illegally. The child would immediately be handed over to the child welfare committee in Muthupatti and if there are no claimants, then the girl would be produced in court and her foster mother would have to make a claim from there. "If the court deems her unfit to bring up the child, she would come under our care and we will take care of its proper adoption," she said. Enrolling the child in school is not an immediate possibility according to her.
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