Foster Child: Mumbai Civil Court Allows Custody of Baby to Biological Mother

A civil court in Mumbai recently ordered an “adoptive parents” to hand over a boy to a 25-year-old woman, citing her right to custody as the biological mother.
The biological mother, who was unmarried when she gave her son up for adoption in 2021, came into a baby-selling racket and, upon realising what had happened, yearned for the return of the child. She had wed his father as well in the meantime.

She requested custody of her infant, who was a year old at the time.

While the adoptive parents were opposed to returning the kid, the court in its judgement observed, “The respondents (adoptive parents) have not provided on record trustworthy and convincing evidence to show fact regarding giving and taking of child in adoption.

“Just having custody of the child under such circumstances does not prove that the adoption of the child was lawfully completed”, the court said.

It also pointed out that the adoption petition filed by the adoptive parents was earlier dismissed.
It also observed that there was insufficient evidence to support the actual giving and taking of the kid in the adoption.

In response to the judge’s directive, the adoptive parents moved a plea seeking a stay to enable them to file an appeal.

The civil court granted a stay for four weeks.

The biological mother claimed in her 2022 petition that she was unable to parent the child because of family and financial issues and had been recommended to contact Julia Fernandez.

She further stated that Julia had told her that she had an NGO and would help care for the infant until things were in order for her to take the child back.

She claimed that Julia assisted in the adoption of her child and let her know that the adoptive parents were well-off and would take good care of him.

In 2022, Fernandez was charged in a criminal case for attempting to sell a newborn baby for Rs 4.5 lakh together with an accused assistant named Shabana Sheikh.

The mother added that the adoption petition was submitted to the court in 2021 by the adoptive parents. The mother claimed that at that time, she and her husband told the court that they did not wish to place their child for adoption.

The court rejected the adoption petition in March 2022. The mother claimed that when she and her husband requested custody of their child from the adoptive parents, they turned them down.

The mother claimed that she went to the police to ask for assistance in rescuing the child, but they refused. As a result, she moved the plea for custody of the child.

The adoptive parents argued that they had legally adopted the child in opposition to the claim.