FIA prepares 10-year report on adoptions, marriages of orphan girls and women

• The FIA submitted a 10-year inquiry report about different orphanages in Sindh
• SHC had asked the agency to prepare the report so that the rights of orphans could be ascertained
• Report shows 93 girls living in different orphanages and shelter homes were been married off in the last 10 years

KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) recently submitted a 10-year inquiry report to the Sindh High Court (SHC) documenting the adoptions and marriages of orphan girls and women living in shelter homes across the province. 

In August, the SHC had directed the FIA to prepare the report so that the state could ensure that orphans and homeless children are being given their due rights and orphanage laws are properly implemented.

According to the report which the FIA submitted, a copy of which has been obtained by Geo News, as of 2020, about 54,501 children — including both boys and girls — have been admitted across 19 orphanages in Karachi.

Read more: Who to donate to during the coronavirus outbreak?

Data collected by the FIA revealed that 414 children were taken from orphanages for adoption, while 129 of the adopted children have moved abroad with their foster parents.

The report further stated that about 93 girls living in different orphanages and shelter homes have been married off.

As for data related to deaths, the report said that a total of 1,597 children, including both boys and girls, have died in different orphanages over the last 10 years.  Of the total, 1,550 bodies had been buried in Karachi's Mawach Goth Cemetery which is run by the Edhi Foundation.

The report further stated that there are a total of 325 children living across six orphanages in Hyderabad. Over the last 10 years, 64 children from Hyderabad orphanages have been handed over to their parents. 

Read more: Five children burned to death in Mirpurkhas orphanage