Mangalore, Feb 12 2013
Maria Chaya Schupp, who was given for adoption to a German couple in 1981 has
returned to Mangalore to track down her biological mother.
With the adoption agency, Nirmala Social Welfare Centre at Ullal
rejecting her request to access records on her mother, a dejected Maria
sought the help of the media on Saturday.
In 1981 when Chaya was six she was given in adoption to a Germany-based
couple Wolfgang Schupp and Ingid Schupp through a Carla Wiedeking who ran an
adoption agency Pro Infante in Germany.
Chaya, now aged 30 is on a mission to trace her mother. “Non-availability of
a written consent from mother and missing deed of relinquishment leads to
the conclusion that I have been kidnapped from my mother,” Chaya accused,
who has memories of living together near Town Hall while her single mother
worked in a ‘Dhanda business’.
“I remember my mother treating me well in spite of difficult circumstances
and have good reasons to believe that she wanted a good education and future
for me,” Chaya asserts. However, I want to ask her why she gave me in the
hands of the Nirmala Cente,” said Chaya who is now employed as a social
worker in Germany and has been camping in the city since January trying to
unearth information about her mother from different quarters.
Chaya along with her friend Arun Dhole met the Ullal police, who also failed
to make available the records from Nirmala Social Welfare Centre.
Desperately searching for her mother, Chaya has also filed a complaint with
the Child Welfare Committee alleging that the centre’s refusal to show her
records aroused suspicion that she may have been kidnapped.
“We will show records only on directions of court, said Nirmala Social
Welfare Centre secretary Sister Lucy D’Souza. Further, K P Vasudeva Rao of
the District Adoptive Parents Association has also advised them to place a
writ petition in the High Court as the adoption agency is not co-operative.
“I don’t know what I will do after I meet my mother, but first thing is I
want to meet her”. Chaya believes that her mother is still alive as she
recalls that her ‘amma’ may have been 20-25 when she last saw her.
Frustrated over the attitude of centre authorities, she has alleged that
they (Nirmala Social Service Centre) may have been indulged in child
trafficking.
Chaya who expressed that she may have to face many more hurdles until she
finally finds her way to her mother, is determined to keep the search
progressing.
