Guwahati: Ambika Pradhan, who runs the only government-recognised specialised adoption agency at remote Dhansiri in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, has learnt that seven orphans under her care whose parents are unknown have been left out of the draft National Register of Citizens because of local officials' lack of awareness about such cases.

Ambika, who has been a foster mother to several children aged six to above 18 over the past decade, came to know about the exclusion when she visited the local NRC office on Wednesday. The officials there also told her that there was no circular or guidelines from Guwahati on how to deal with such cases.

"When I had filled up the NRC format, the papers were not accepted by the officials. They were not informed or trained on how to deal with the issue surrounding orphaned children. Today I was told to come on August 7. I also went to meet the deputy commissioner but the DC was not available," the matriarch of Mission Concern, which was recognised as a child care institute (CCI) by the government in April this year, said. It was recognised as a specialised adoption agency (SAA) under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, last year.

At present, there are 21 children, aged seven to above 18, under Ambika's care. They hail from communities like Karbi, Dimasa, Kuki, Nepali, Bengali, Adivasi and others. A few of them are victims of ethnic clashes while the rest were either abandoned or given to her by parents who were too poor to take care of them.

Of the seven orphans whose names have not featured in the draft NRC, three have been selected for adoption and will get the identity of their new parents. The remaining four are still waiting to be adopted.

Banajit Sarma, protection officer (institutional care) district child protection unit in Karbi Anglong, who worked upon such cases at the Missionaries of Charity here when the NRC update began in 2015, said a detailed case history needs to be prepared for a destitute or an orphan such as how the child came to such a position and what situation led to it.

"Someone told Ambika to prepare a case history but she didn't know how to prepare one or whom to approach. She was busy taking care of the children as her husband was away. When the time came to fill up the NRC format, she submitted the form with photographs of her foster children attached to it. She was told by officials that they had no idea how to deal with such cases. Since Dhansiri is remote, maybe it was perceived that such circular need not be sent. For orphans, the name of the superintendent who takes care of them comes as the head of family. Legacy data is irrelevant because it won't matter," Sarma said.

He had written a letter on behalf of Missionaries of Charity to NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela in 2015 on how to deal with cases of orphans and destitutes under the NRC. After receiving the letter, NRC officials had visited the Missionaries of Charity for verification.

There are four CCIs in Karbi Anglong, one government run and three private.