NEW DELHI,March24,2012: In one of the first cases of its kind, an American woman has been allowed to adopt an Indian child through video-conferencing, after the mother and child deposed before a US district court from Delhi. The adoption did not involve the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) either, in itself a precedent. On Friday, 31-year-old Rebecca Morlock flew home with Kyle, the boy from Kalimpong who was handed over to her as a newborn four years ago.Going through the Supreme Court, a Delhi district court, the US embassy and a US district court, Rebecca managed to bridge the adoption and immigration laws in the two countries. Once the Delhi court granted her guardianship rights in 2009, in record nine months, the US court approved the adoption.Rebecca's quest began in January 2008, when an unwed mother in a village near Kalimpong in West Bengal was desperate to give up her two-day-old baby, fearing ostracism. Word came to Rebecca, who had volunteered to teach at children's homes there since 2007. "I knew instantly that I would do whatever it took to make him my son legally," she recalls. "I loved him with all my heart rightaway and was determined to give him the best possible life."Finding little help in Kolkata, she came to Delhi and contacted her embassy, which sent her to advocate Gaurang Kanth. The legal team first got the guardianship proceedings transferred from a Kalimpong court to Delhi by a Supreme Court order. In 2009, district judge Gurdeep Kumar granted Rebecca the certificate of guardianship, but with several conditions, as laid down by the Supreme Court for such cases. She was also directed to set up a fixed deposit for Kyle so that he could fly back if she failed to finalize the adoption within two years. There was one hitch, though-while Indian laws mandated that she take Kyle to the US for adoption, the US immigration insisted she adopt Kyle in Delhi before taking him home.Rebecca then got a rare allowance from the US, with authorities giving her clearance to finalize the adoption via video-conferencing. Kyle's passport was issued last year after consultations between the local and US authorities, including a US state judge. By end of 2011, US immigration approved a visa for Kyle and earlier this month, the US court permitted her to return home with the boy.When TOI met her hours before her departure for the US, Rebecca was ecstatic. "Every step of this journey has been challenging and it has been new territory. Our case has set a precedent in both countries. It is my hope that through this, people will have courage and hope, and the legal guidelines to rescue more babies in a similar manner."
