Where are babies being abandoned?
In Europe, the gradual spread of ‘baby boxes’ has garnered strong criticism from the United Nations as it “contravenes the right of the child to be known and cared for by his or her parents”.
A baby box or a baby hatch is a place where newborn babies are left anonymously. These capsules are often found built into the walls of hospitals. Even though it is indirectly promoting the trend of parents dumping their children, one can’t deny the fact that baby boxes have saved “hundreds of newborns”. Many religious organisations have also accepted them as they are preferred to abortions.
Such a practice, prevalent in the medieval centuries, have resurfaced in recent years. European countries such as the Czech Republic, Germany and Latvia have witnessed a rise in the number of baby boxes. Since 2000, over 400 children have been left in the 200 boxes across Europe. Of all the European countries, Germany has the most baby boxes, with 80 drop-offs around the country.
When it comes to India, the harrowing cases of newborns being abandoned at unsafe places are quite common. But even if the idea of baby boxes might sound like a good option, it stands against everything that is promoted under attachment parenting concept.
“Attachment parenting, that is a rage right now, aims at developing a mental as well as physical relation between the baby and the mother. But once baby boxes come into the picture such a bond can never be formed,” says professor H.M. Kulshreshtha from the Indian Institute of School Psychology. “Abandoned newborns need a lot of care and even the foster parents should undergo counselling. Keeping in mind this scenario, baby boxes might not be effective in the long run,” he says.
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