Berhampur: Two orphan minor girls, who were rescued by the Gajapati district administration from Mohana area, about four years ago, found new parents and a home in Italy on Friday. A couple from Florence, working as an associate professor and agriculture technical officer, declared to adopt the sisters aged 12 and 14 years at Paralakhemundi. The couple did not want their name to be disclosed.After following the rules and regulations of the Central Adoption Resources Authority (CARC), additional district magistrate (ADM), Munindra Honnagea, who is also in-charge collector, handed over the girls to the couple. CARC is an autonomous and statutory body under the ministry of women and child welfare.Among others, the representative of Italy, AFAA (Authorized Foreign Adoption Agency), chairman, child welfare committee A K Tripathy, district social welfare officer Manorama Dei, district child protection officer (DCPO) Arun Kumar Tripathy, officials of the orphanage, where the minor sisters had been housed after being rescued were present.The couple had applied to CARC, New Delhi over three years ago for adoption of a girl from India. After being rescued from Mohana area in 2022, the girls were housed in a childcare home at Hatibadi, near Paralakhemundi.After the death of their parents, they were living in the house of one of their relatives. They are now studying in Class VI and VIII.The DCPO said 83 orphaned children of Gajapati district have been adopted by different persons in the country and abroad in the last eight years. As many as 14 of them, including these two sisters, were adopted by foreign couples, he added.
