Bipin Paul, 45, and his wife Soma, 35, (names changed) have been trying to conceive for the past 10 years and have received infertility treatment over four years under two specialists.

By 2008, their unexplained infertility was still as unexplained, only they were Rs 1.5 lakh lighter. That’s when they contemplated adoption.

“An in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) would have cost us yet another lakh or more and it has only a 20 per cent chance of success. We wanted to spare ourselves any more disappointments. Adopting a newborn seemed a far better option,” said Bipin.

The second choice proved as traumatic to the Pauls. Most recognised agencies have a long list of waiting couples, some since 2006.

With few healthy newborns at their disposal, some agencies in the city have been forced to stop registering new couples.

“We have approached an agency in Purna Das Road 14 times over the last two years. But they are yet to register us on the waiting list. The agency hardly ever entertains our phone calls. So I keep visiting them at frequent intervals,” said Bipin.

Every time he visits the adoption agency, the staff take down his address and phone number. “But they never get back to me,” he said.

“We made enquiries at another agency, but even there the staff claimed that our wait may last seven to eight years.”

Many adoption agencies in the state require a couple to produce a medical certificate showing they are unable to conceive although the law — the Juvenile Justice Act — clearly states that a couple with children of both or either sex can adopt a baby of either sex.

“The gynaecologists and infertility experts who had treated us refused to certify that. The doctors said there was still hope for us. But in reality they hated to see a prospective IVF client slip through their fingers,” said Bipin.

However, a friend of the Pauls’ has adopted a child from a “private clinic” by paying Rs 65,000. “The whole transaction was unofficial, but then he did not have to wait endlessly like us. We were tempted too, but future implications held us back. What if we were blackmailed in the future?”

The Pauls are wondering what to do next. “We are thinking of going to another state and approaching the adoption agencies there. We may also opt for a fresh round of infertility treatment. One option seems just as hopeless as the other, but we will keep tapping all our resources.”