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'Drop Box' collects 17 babies in first year
by tbphotos | May 20, 2008 at 05:52 pm | 200 views | 2 comments | 0 recommendations
by tbphotos
For any parents of unwanted babies, perhaps this type of operation would be a viable solution in other parts of the world, in particular in North America. We far too often hear of horror stories in the media of newborns being left on doorsteps, or even worse, in garbage dumpsters.
Naturally, the ultimate solution would be for everyone to practise 'safe-sex' for unwanted siblings, but this will never be 100% employed, no matter how much we stress the point.. much like "Speed Kills", but far too many never heed or never learn.
TOKYO - Officials sponsoring an anonymous "drop box" for unwanted babies in southern Japan say they have received 17 children in their first year of operation.
The Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto City created the "Stork's Cradle" drop-off last May after a string of high-profile cases in which newborns were abandoned in parks and at supermarkets.
People can leave babies in an incubator via a small hatch on the side of the hospital.
The children are cared for by the hospital, then put up for adoption or sent to a home for infants.
Kyodo news agency says 14 of the babies were less than one month old, two were less than a year old, and one was a preschooler. It says 13 of the abandoned children were boys and four were girls.
A Kumamoto City official told Kyodo that notes were left with six of the babies, none of whom showed signs of abuse or neglect.
It is illegal to abandon babies in Japan. But police say they do not try to find the parents of babies left at hospitals or at homes for abandoned children.
The facility in Kumamoto, about 900 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, is the only anonymous baby drop box in Japan.
May 20, 2008 at 05:52 pm by tbphotos, 200 views, 2 comments
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 20:00 on May 20th, 2008
This reminds me of a similar story the BBC ran about a "letterbox" for unwanted babies that was opened in 2000. I'd be interested to know how "successful" that has been - if that could be said to be the right word.
at 21:40 on May 20th, 2008
Yes, Rachel, and I'd be interested to see the results of this one in another year from now.
Trevor