Abandoned Babies: Bundle Of Tragedy
A controversial scheme to deal with unwanted babies proves too popular.
"Before abandoning, think carefully about your actions. Home is a child's real safe haven." So reads a sign on a small yellow building attached to an orphanage in Tianjin, a northern city.
It is one of dozens of facilities, called "baby havens" in Chinese, that have been allowing parents of unwanted babies to leave them anonymously in a safe place. Pilot sites opened in 2011 and by last year 25 such buildings had opened around the country.
Each baby haven has an incubator, a cot and a delayed alarm device so that staff can tend to a baby no more than ten minutes after it is left. But amid complaints from orphanages that they cannot cope with the high volume of babies, the policy is getting a second look.
At the Tianjin facility, a surly watchman says visitors are not allowed in and that the facility will close soon. Officials in the southern city of Guangzhou have already closed their baby hatch less than two months after opening it. They have been "overwhelmed" by the 262 babies left there. Most of them had severe health problems, they say.
As in other countries, it is often economic hardship that compels parents to abandon a child. But China's one-child policy is also a factor. The policy is being relaxed, but only gradually. A sick or disabled baby is still often an unwanted burden for a family limited to one child.
Some critics say the hatches encourage abandonments that might otherwise not happen. Chen Lan, founder of a child-protection group, disagrees. She says giving up a child is an act of such desperation that parents will not do it just because a policy makes it safer.
A recent commentary at Caixin Online, a leading Chinese news website, accused officials at the Guangzhou facility of "retreating from their public duty". The 262 abandoned infants did not just suddenly appear because a baby hatch was created, it said. "They were already around, but not cared for properly."
Ms Chen is confident the policy will survive. She says many nations have shown that, when a society reaches a certain level, it starts taking care of vulnerable children. "China has now reached that level," she says.
Click here to subscribe to The Economist.
- A teenager accidentally hits the accelerator pedal, and a five-year-old boy loses his life in a tragic incident in Bengaluru
- Amid growing political uncertainty in Pakistan, IMF expresses concern over its financial stability
- OPINION: Balancing act or pure jugglery — navigating professional challenges as a working mother
- OPINION: Ecofeminism — a diversified perspective on Mother’s Day
- Inflation data, Q4 earnings, global trends to drive stock markets this week: Analysts
- Nothing Phone (2a) blue edition launched
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market