Mother moves to France to adopt boy

A MOTHER of four adult children is to swap her Cork home for one in France tomorrow so she can adopt a very bright little Indian boy born with only one limb.

British-born Maureen Attig, 52, and her retired Irish-American husband, Don, 68, who live in Donoughmore, Co Cork, are both considered too old under Irish and British law to adopt the five-year-old orphan.

But Maureen, who once worked in France, is planning to live and work there until she can adopt Tony under French law.

Tony has a little stump where his right arm should have been; his only limb is his left leg which is missing a thigh bone.

He rolls around the floor of the orphanage that he shares with more than 200 children with physical and mental disabilities in Dharmapuri, India.

Maureen tried to get him to Ireland to have a new arm and a leg fitted but the Indian authorities would only issue a passport for him under strict conditions that she could not meet.

In particular, the authorities wanted an Indian national to travel with Tony to Ireland and stay with him until his new limbs were fitted.

“That’s impossible because Tony has been horizontal all his life it could take up to three years before he could return to India with his new limbs,” said Maureen who has been updating listeners to the John Creedon show on RTÉ Radio One on Tony’s progress.

Maureen first met Tony three years ago when she worked for six weeks in an orphanage in southern India where most children had intellectual disabilities.

She found Tony rolling around playing with the other children. “I started talking to Tony and he just jumped straight into my heart,” she recalled.

Maureen is convinced Tony is more than capable of making a life for himself.

“That boy has a very active mind. He’s not going to be a burden on anyone.”

Leaving the bright little boy in the orphanage in Pondicherry was heart-wrenching for Maureen because she knew he was not getting the kind of education he needed there.

Upon returning to Ireland she trawled the internet and eventually found another Indian orphanage called the Mercy Home run by Brother Louis Rayan.

“I sent Brother Rayan an email and he wrote back immediately saying he would welcome Tony right away. He did not ask for a penny,” Maureen said.

Tony moved there in April last year and the next day Brother Louis took him into a nearby town and bought him new clothes and a new buggy to sit in.

Most of the children in Mercy home are physically disabled like Tony so he has lots of children to play with and is getting the kind of education he needs.

“I spent the first six months of this year there teaching computer skills and English on a voluntary basis and looking after Tony who calls me Mammy all the time,” said Maureen.

Tony’s English is as good as any Irish-born child of his age.

Maureen is moving to a small house in Bellac in France’s Bordeaux region where she will spend the next few years working and saving as much money as she can to adopt Tony.