By Tapas Kumar Parida
Bhubaneswar: With a heart full of emotion, life bubbling with energy, 21-year-old Sneha Enrique Vidal from Spain is in the city with a mission - to search for her biological mother. Seems a story straight out of the 2002 documentary film Daughter from Da Nang, where Heidi Bub, was struggling to meet her biological family in Da Nang.
It’s a story that resonates deeply with the idea of identity, belonging, and love. Sneha Enrique Vidal, who grew up in Spain, was adopted as a toddler, along with her younger brother, by a Spanish couple 20 years ago. Now, driven by a yearning to find her origins and reconnect with her birth parents, she has reached Bhubaneswar.
Born in Odisha, Sneha’s life changed in 2002 when she, barely two years old and her nine-month-old brother were rescued by the police, locked and abandoned in a rented house of a Nayapalli slum. Soon, they were handed over to the Child Welfare Department. Their birth mother, unable to fend for her children, all of three and pregnant with another, left them behind.
Sneha and her brother were then given on adoption to a Spanish couple legally, facilitated by the Odisha government and the Women and Child Development Department. In 2005, the children Sneha and her brother were adopted by Jima Vidal and Enrique, a Spanish couple, who promised to give them a loving home. For 16 years, Sneha lived a life of privilege in Spain, excelling in academics and preparing for a career as a teacher.
As Sneha grew older, she became uneasy about learning her past. With support from her adoptive parents, she decided to return to Odisha and look for her biological parents. “I have always felt a part of me missing,” she says. “I wanted to know where I come from, the people who brought me into this world.”
Sneha has been visiting Bhubaneswar for the past three years, tirelessly searching for her biological parents. Her quest took her to the police, orphanages, and neighborhoods she once called home.
Through persistent efforts, Sneha succeeded in getting to the roots of her biological family. She was confirmed that her mother, identified as Banalata Das, and father, Santosh Kumar Das, lived in Bhubaneswar. Her father worked at a private firm, while her mother struggled to care for her four children. It is likely that out of desperation, she decided to leave two of her children at the hands of destiny.
A retired lecturer of Ramadevi Autonomous University, Sneha Mishra, who has been assisting Sneha in her search, said, “This land has a strange pull for her. It’s her blood connection drawing her here. She is determined to find her identity.”
Now after her struggle for the last three years, local authorities and social workers have chipped in to trace Sneha's parents, who are believed to be natives of Badamba Narasinghpur in Cuttack district. While the journey has been emotionally draining, Sneha remains hopeful. “I’ve come so far, and I won’t stop until I find them,” she says.
Sneha’s adoptive parents, Jima and Enrique, say that it was full of challenges to adopt two Indian children. “It took us three years to finalize the process, but it was worth every moment,” Jima, a teacher, says. Their sacrifices included leaving jobs and being with the kids to make them feel wanted and loved.
Today, Sneha is pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher in Spain, while her brother studies logistics. “This is more than just a quest for my parents,” Sneha says. “It’s a journey to understand myself,” she concludes.
Adoption Statistics
In the period from April 2023 to March 2024, over 4,000 children were adopted in India, the first time in five years that the number of adoptions reached this high. This is a significant increase from the previous year, when 3,441 children were adopted.
Number of children adopted in India
2018-19: 4,027 children
2019-20: 3,745 children
2020-21: 3,559 children
2021-22: 3,405 children
2022-23: 3,441 children
2023-24: 4,029 children
In the period from April 2023 to March 2024, 449 children were adopted from India by families abroad.
Over 5000 children have been adopted by foreign parents in the last decade.
In 2022-23 - 188 children adopted from Odisha
At least 86 children from Odisha were adopted by foreign parents between 2015 and 2017, said Childline member Benudhar Senapati. He also stated that many children of Indian origin, if adopted by foreign parents, come to India in search of their biological parents. "But many of them are unsuccessful. This is because neither the parents who surrender their children want to disclose their identity nor is it easy to identify the parents who abandoned their children," he added.
