Adoption in the News
Thousands offer to adopt Syrian newborn girl pulled from the earthquake rubble Staff and Wire report
Thousands have offered to adopt a newborn girl whose mother gave birth under the rubble of a five-story collapsed apartment building in Syria following Monday’s earthquake.
Baby Aya — meaning miracle in Arabic — was found buried under concrete more than 10 hours after the quake struck with her umbilical cord still connected to her deceased mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya. Her father and all four of her siblings also died after the devastating earthquake hit the northwest Syrian town of Jindayris, next to the Turkish border.
After a female neighbor cut Aya’s cord, she was rushed to a nearby children’s hospital and placed in an incubator. The physician treating the baby, Dr. Hani Maarouf at Cihan Hospital in Afrin, said Aya’s condition is improving by the day and there was no damage to her spine, as initially feared.
Footage of a man sprinting from the collapsed debris of a building, holding Aya covered in dust, went viral on social media. Maarouf said the baby’s lowered body temperature indicated she had been born about three hours before being found.
Since Aya’s rescue, hospital manager Khalid Attiah says he’s fielded dozens of calls from people worldwide wanting to adopt baby Aya. Additionally, thousands of people are asking for adoption details on social media.
For now, Attiah’s wife, who has a daughter just four months older than her, will breastfeed Aya alongside their own child.