Kerala’s cradle scheme receives 1,000th infant as Tamil Nadu seeks wider adoption

The Story in Brief

Kerala’s Ammathottil centres have received their 1,000th infant, a five-day-old girl named Sahasra, after she was placed at the council office in Thiruvananthapuram. The state opened its first cradle in 2002 and now has centres in every district. Once the Child Welfare Committee takes custody, infants can enter the legal adoption process through the Central Adoption Resource Authority after the prescribed waiting period.

Tamil Nadu pioneered the scheme in 1992 after reports of female infanticide, and its cradles have cared for more than 6,000 infants. Karnataka, Odisha and Rajasthan have since introduced similar programmes. Critics say the system can legitimise abandonment, pointing to Kerala’s 681 abandoned girls against 319 boys. The New Indian Express argues that the Union government should encourage every state and Union territory to establish specialised centres.

The Indian Opinion

The easy claim that cradle schemes either solve female infanticide or encourage it misses the evidence. They offer an emergency safety net, but Kerala’s sex imbalance among abandoned infants shows that social prejudice still shapes who is surrendered. The answer is not to close a functioning route to safety, nor to treat it as social reform. Governments should track outcomes, adoption timelines and sex ratios. The key test is whether fewer infants are abandoned while every surrendered child receives lawful care.

Source: newindianexpress.com

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