CHENNAI: On January 20, Sabari celebrated his first birthday with other children with special needs at Sri Arunodayam Charitable Trust (SACT), Kolathur.
What made the milestone birthday even more special was the fact that his parents, who had given him up at birth as he had special needs, turned up at the centre, having regretted their decision and eager to be reunited with their son.
“Sabari was born in January 2021 with congenital anomalies – he didn’t have a left leg, or kidney on the left side and also had ambiguous genitalia. He was in hospital for nearly a month and since his parents felt they wouldn't be able to take care of him, they decided to surrender their child to a charitable organisation,” says Iyyappan Subramaniyan, founder, SACT, adding that they contacted Childline for help. “The case was referred to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Kancheepuram, and he was handed over to our care.”
The staff of SACT visited the hospital for a week to learn how to take care of the one-month-old baby. “Since then, he has been with us. We took him to hospital for regular reviews and his condition improved. He also met all his milestones on time,” says Iyyappan. This January, as the centre geared up to celebrate Sabari’s first birthday, his biological parents, K Veeramani and Hemalatha, came to the centre with their relatives. “We decided to give him up our son as doctors were not sure how long he would survive and we were also unable to care for him. Sabari was born on our wedding anniversary, and since we left him, my wife has been very depressed,” says Veeramani, 30, an auto driver. “I had taken a photo of him when he was born. We approached the CWC and got permission to visit our son.”
The Kancheepuram CWC conducted a background verification before they came to a decision, says Rajkumar Muthukrishnan, chairman, CWC Kancheepuram district. “We will be doing regular follow-ups to ensure that the child is being well looked after.”
