Parents Sell Newborn so Older Child Can Get Medical Care
Once you become a parent, you realize you would do anything for your child, particularly if your little one was sick or suffering. But that usually isn't at the expense of another child. Clearly in a desperate situation, parents in India allegedly sold their newborn son so they could get money to pay for medical treatment for their paralyzed toddler, with the hope that he could walk someday.
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Sandhya Devi and Ashok Kumar were arrested after they went to police saying that neighbors Vinod and Shakuntla Agarwal only paid them half of the 40,000 rupees they agreed upon for giving them their newborn. In total, that's roughly $700.
Everything about this story is sad. The disabled toddler. A family so distraught they made a poor decision. The fact that people are making a business out of selling babies. It was reported that the neighbors offered to buy the child when they found out Sandhya was pregnant. And it's suspected that the child was considered even more "valuable" since the baby was a boy.
The Kumars are saying they thought they were taking part in a legal adoption with the help of a midwife who was taking care of all the paperwork.
Not all things are not what they seem in this story.
The child's father had another story, saying they had went to the hospital for a routine checkup when they were approached by a midwife named Madhu who asked if they were interested in giving the child up for adoption. "We desperately needed money for our older son's treatment," he said, "and Madhu told us that the adoptive parents would pay 40,000 INR, which would cover the medical bills. We were more than happy to see our paralytic child get medical help and walk so we agreed to give our newborn up for adoption."
Now he no longer wants to give the child up.
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The midwife in question was also arrested and out on bail. There is also a big investigation going on to find out if others were involved.
I don't know how to feel with this case. Desperation drives people to do things they normally wouldn't. Sadly, it's the baby who suffers the worst. He apparently was very weak, and being back in the arms of his biological mother who he only knew for three days was considered the best thing for him. Perhaps she is realizing the mistake she made. Perhaps someday they will tell the child this story and he will forgive them. Perhaps not.
Do you think these parents deserve forgiveness?
Image via photo_gratis/Flickr
Written by Michele Zipp on CafeMom's blog, The Stir.
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