Unamrried Single Men get Adoption of Child In India.

NE: They are now in Mumbai teaching him how to feed his two-year-old ‘newborn’ and how to help him brush his teeth but Sandip Soparrkar’s parents, who live in Pune, are confident that their son can handle the responsibility all by himself and do a great job too.

Unmarried and just 33 years old, Sandip recently adopted Arjun, the first in the country to do so in almost a decade.
Cases of single men adopting children are rare even though the adoption law in India does not bar them from doing so.
According to Sharmila Sayed, social work administrator, SOFOSH, Pune, “In most cases, the absence of a strong family support system makes single men hesitant to adopt.”

Says Rani Soparrkar, Sandip’s mother, “I’m proud of my son. Nowadays, youngsters don’t want to have kids at all, let alone adopt. Besides, we know that Sandip will make an excellent father whether he is single or married. Already father and son are inseparable!”

A resident of Pune till six years ago, when he moved to Mumbai for work, the well-known ballroom and Latino dancer is described by his teacher Anita Mudliar, professor at the Maharashtra State Institute of Hotel Management as “flamboyant, yes, but very warm and sincere.”

Mudliar, Sandip’s “favourite teacher at the institute”, says, “I am truly happy and proud of him. Even after he passed out in 1995, Sandip was in touch with me and many times he had spoken to me about his wish to adopt a child. I’m impressed that he persevered in the face of such a long wait and endless formalities and stood by his decision.”
Sandip’s closest friend in Pune, Qaneez Sukhrani is also thrilled. “Adopting a child and giving him a home and love of parents is one of the most wonderful gestures one can do. In fact, I don’t think there should be any discrimination made between single men and women wanting to adopt. Men can also be as loving and warm with kids as women. In fact, Sandip will make a great dad — he is a very caring and sensitive man,” says the civic rights activist.

That Arjun feels the same is evident from the way he has been clinging on to his dad ever since he came home a week ago. “He was abandoned as a kid and he’s probably still insecure,” says Sandip as Arjun keeps chanting “yeh kya hain (what is this?)” every few minutes.

“Those are the few Hindi words he knows. He talks smatterings of Hindi and Marathi. My knowledge of the latter is limited to instructions to my domestic help,” he jokes, adding, “I would love to teach Arjun to dance. Even now, he loves moving to music.”

Sandip had applied for the adoption with Bal Darshan four years ago. “I did get frustrated at times,” he admits. “I had to answer weird queries like ‘why would a tall, good looking young man like me want to adopt a child?’ Or I would be asked to get letters from people who I had absolutely no association with. For instance, the builder who was bringing down our bungalow in Mumbai to construct a building,” recalls Sandip.

“At times, I’d yell at the poor girl from the adoption agency. Then she’d apologise and after that I would apologise — a lot of sorrys would be exchanged… and so on,” he laughs. “But was all worth it,” he sighs.

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