The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) formally receives the custody of Kiyan on Monday (July 6, 2026) on behalf of the Kerala government.
| Photo Credit: H. Vibhu
Kiyan, a nine-day-old boy, starts life with a name that carries the promise of hope. The newborn, who was found abandoned near a roadside eatery last month (June) and has since been admitted to Ernakulam General Hospital in Kerala, was given the name Kiyan — meaning “royalty” in Persian and Arabic — as a hopeful gesture that the misfortune surrounding his birth would not define the rest of his life.
On Monday (July 6, 2026), the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) formally received custody of Kiyan on behalf of the Kerala government after he was discharged from the Newborn Stabilisation Unit of the hospital. Doctors vouched that his condition had stabilised and his weight also improved to 2.94 kg from around 2.4 kg when he was rushed to the hospital by the Maradu police in the early morning hours of June 28.
“The baby will be put in the care of a special adoption agency till the formalities are completed for declaring him legally fit for adoption. We have sought reports from the police and the DCPU about the circumstances of his abandonment and whether his parents can be traced. Based on those reports, the child would be legally declared abandoned,” said Ullas Madhu, CWC chairperson.
Subsequentially, formalities will be initiated to publicise the details of the newborn in the gazette and the media. If no one claims the child within a stipulated period, then he will be declared legally free for adoption.
“That process will have to be followed since the child was not legally surrendered by his family. The child will be then registered with the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and State Adoption Resource Agency (SARA) and made available for adoption to the applicants in turn,” said Jayanthi P. Nair, District Child Protection Officer.
Kiyan was found abandoned near a mall in Maradu shortly after midnight after an informer alerted the Maradu police. Since then, he was placed under observation at the hospital.
Published – July 06, 2026 01:01 pm IST
