Chandigarh, August 19: Proving that there will always be some who cares, the Ashiana Children’s Home, Sector 15, Chandigarh, has decorated a room and installed a cradle to welcome the ‘newborn daughter’ of a 10 year-old, who gave birth on Thursday morning. This was after the parents of the 10-year-old refused to see the infant.
The management at the Ashiana has also done a lot of shopping for the newborn.
“We have already done shopping for her. We have bought new clothes, diapers, bib, sipper and other items needed for the child. Her room has been cleaned,” said one of the members of Ashiana.
Attendants have even decided the name of the baby-girl. Her name means uniqueness.
Ashiana, which is also a specialised adoption agency, is a home for over 100 children (0-18 years) who are orphans, abandoned or are victims of any crime. It has a capacity to take 180 children. Currently, there are 105 children, of which 14 children are in the age group of 0-7 years.
There is one room for infants, which has two cradles and two closets. “At the moment, there is one baby girl aged three months. She was brought to Ashiana by police when she was only three days old. We have named her after the name of a flower as her cheeks are red,” said officials.
Around five months ago, a pregnant 15-year-old was brought to the facility. “At that time, she was around 5 months pregnant. She is now scheduled to deliver in another 10 days. We are going to make arrangements for this new-born as well,” said the attendant. Three attendants look after these infants who work round the clock on 8-hourly shifts.
“Paediatricians from PGIMER visit the children home once a week, wherein they examine children, regularly monitor their body weight, immunise them and give a diet chart for them,” said the official.
There are 17 house-mothers to take care of 105 children. Once a child turns two-and-a-half years ago, he/she is admitted to an Anganwadi, and at three years, the child is admitted to a government school.
Officials said the child home needs support from donors.
“Whatever funds we get, we can provide good food, uniform and limited stationery to all children. We need help from donors. We will be grateful if people can donate stationery, books, clothes (not used), shoes and other items for children,” said an official.
Source : Hindustan Times
