MalloryKeaton

http://www.click2houston.com/family/4132500/detail.html

Judge Gets Case Of 9 Women Who Claim Tsunami Baby Is Theirs

Posted: 2:54 pm EST January 26, 2005

Colombo, Sri Lanka -- A judge in Sri Lanka says he'll soon begin hearing evidence from nine women who each claim that a tiny tsunami survivor is their child.The baby is about 4 months old and was separated from his family during last month's tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The child has been dubbed "Baby 81" because he was the 81st admission to a hospital the day of the disaster.

DNA testing is uncommon and expensive in less-developed eastern Sri Lanka, and would require sending samples to the capital, Colombo.

The judge hopes next week's testimony will solve the case, but he hasn't ruled out the tests if necessary.

Police became involved in the case when one of the women threatened suicide if she failed to get custody of the baby. Tempers flared so much that hospital officials feared parents might try to seize the baby by force.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

LittleMilkJug

This is one of the saddest things I've heard. A mothers knows if a 4 month old is hers so at least eight of these women are in shock over their loss, and you cant really blame them

Ai Ninjai

you said it

xallyx

I hope they do go ahead with the tests. It'll provide some sort of comfort to know the child is with his actual mother and won't leave the other women wondering...

Vampires_Bite

This is sad, but shows the pain these people are going through... trying to cope with losing a child!

-Kelly-

That's so awful

TokyoNiGHTS

I'd just tell all 9 this, the 8 that are proven to not be the childs mother after the tests will be thrown in jail for a year. Watch them drop like flies till the real mom is the only one left.

Ambular

Well, I don't personally see this as a case of 8 women who are intentionally lying in order to get a child. Think about how emotionally traumatizing it is to see your 4-month old baby carried away in a tsunami. It's just so horribly devastating that I couldn't even begin to think about it. Like Devon said, they are probably still in shock, and when they hear that a baby was found, they are desperate at the thought of being able to get him/her back. I don't think these other women have malicious intent.

No1important

It is so sad. I really can't think of anything else to say about this, other than wishing the Tsunami never happened.

Quarterley

Sigh.

roswellain_chick16

These poor poor woman, I can only imagine what they may be going through right now - such an ongoing tragedy

Lorna

I agree with Ambular. I don't think they are saying this because they want to "steal" the baby. I should think the real mother does know that this baby is hers... and the other mothers will know deep down that this baby isn't theirs. They are probably grasping onto the one last hope they have, that their baby is still alive.
As someone who has lost their baby, I know how they are feeling. Everytime you see another baby, or hear one cry, immediately you think... maybe that's her! And when you realise it can't be... it's the worst feeling in the world.

I feel for these mothers. I hope they do the tests ASAP so the other 8 women can try and rebuild their lives.

LittleMilkJug

There is nothing evil in what they are doing, as a mother I can understand their utter desperation. They are to be pityed and helped, not scorned and threatened.

TokyoNiGHTS

At the sametime though you should also be thinking of how traumitized the real mother would be if for some reason you got her baby instead of her. I can understand that these women are scared and upset over the situation and want to believe their child wasn't killed. But you can't go around wanting other womens babies to be yours and potentially breaking their heart of you do get it.

One reason I said that they need to have police action is because Sri Lanka is one of the places where there's alot of child prostitution. And as sick as it might seem, i'm thinking atleast some of these women could potentially be trying to get the kid specifically for that since you can make some money by selling the kid into it. So while it might be harsh, i'd rather make sure that the real mother is getting it instead of someone that'd sell the kid into prostitution.

Ambular

Lorna, I'm so sorry to hear that I could never know what that feels like and I hope I never do, but I'm sorry that you had to go through that ...

First of all, though, there would need to be DNA tests to prove who the true mother is. In a case where 9 women are all claiming it is theirs, I doubt they would just randomly choose one of them, or pick which one has the most convincing claim. Considering that, like you said, having a woman know it is her child and possibly giving it to another person is a possible risk, I would think they would use testing to determine for sure whose it was. Also, yeah, it's possible that some women do know it isn't there's and "want" it to be, but for others, they probably are in shock and denial legitimately enough to actually believe it is their baby. Like I said, I doubt any of them are trying to bring harm here.

Even though I'm not going to say that the prospect of one of these women wanting to get this infant to sell her into child prostitution in the future is impossible, because it wouldn't be impossible, but I don't think it's really fair to assume that it would happen just because it is a problem in that country. I think these women are truly desperate and terrified and emotionally destroyed because their own children drowned; Any person who would do this for a financial gain would have to be a terribly sick individual.