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Thane shelter home opens its heart to help four-year-old girl

From last two weeks, little Hisha Ravindra Walmiki looks forward to spending her day at Divya Prabha shelter home for children at Vartaknagar in Thane.

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The infant with her grandfather
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Where there is a will, there's a way — as cliched as it may sound but a Thane shelter home has made this proverb come true. Since the past two weeks they are babysitting a four-year-old girl from Thane who does not have parents and lives with her grandparents. Her grandmother is unwell while her grandfather earns daily wages. As the old couple does not want to give their grandchild for adoption and also the law prohibits admission of less than six-year-old child in an orphanage, the Thane shelter offered to babysit her and also help with her education.

From last two weeks, little Hisha Ravindra Walmiki looks forward to spending her day at Divya Prabha shelter home for children at Vartaknagar in Thane. She loves to read and write alphabets when she comes home in the evening. "Mujhe udhar jana achha lagta hai. Mujhe padhai karna bhi achha lagta hai (I love going there and also love to study)," says Hisha in her sweet voice.

A resident of Bhimnagar, Thane Hisha lost her father Ravindra when she was two years old while her mother abandoned her. Since then she had been living with her paternal grandparents - Bhagwandas Walmiki,59 and Rajwati, 57. "My wife had two major operations in the past and is unwell while I have to go out to earn our daily bread," says her grandpa Bhagwandas.

As the little girl is now of school-going age, the grandparents want to provide her education but with their different issues did not know what to do. It is then that they met Kasber Augustine, chairman of Bombay Catholic Sabha from Our Lady of Mercy Church, Thane. "The grandparents wanted a system where they could meet the girl but did not want to give her up for adoption. So we approached Divya Prabha shelter," says Augustine,

Sister Anny Fernandes from Divya Prabha reiterated that the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 prohibits admitting a child below six years of age to an orphanage "The act which is meant to protect and care for children says that a child should stay with the family till six years of age. If the child is six years of age and there is a problem like the parents have died then he/she can be sent to an institution like a shelter home. The child can also be put up for adoption," she says. "But here her grandparents did not want her to be adopted so we agreed to babysit her daily," she says.

Divya Prabha is a 19-year-old shelter home where children are cared for and provided education until they reach 18 years of age. Since the past two weeks, her grandpa drops her at the shelter at 10 am and picks her up at 5 pm. "We provide her basic elementary schooling and hoping to admit her in a school in April. After school she can come here and study with us while continuing to have a family," she says.

This arrangement has made the Walmikis happy. "This way she gets to learn and also stay with us. She is such a happy child. How can we give her away for adoption?" says Bhagwandas.

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