South Africa has one of the highest rates of infant abandonment worldwide with more than 10,000 cases yearly. More than two thirds of them are found dead. Newborn babies account to 60% of all abandoned children; and 90% of all abandoned children are aged under one year. Many of these children are results of failed abortions; and abandonment is not regarded a serious crime in South Africa. The large number of infant abandonments is considered to be due to the number of illegal immigrants, poverty, the high rate of unemployment, missing access to contraceptives and lack of education. While girls aged 12 and over are allowed to have abortion without parental consent, mothers under 18 are required parental consent to put up a baby for adoption.
“Door of Hope” together with children’s rights activists, child care facilities, legal representatives and human rights lawyers have been urging the government to make policy changes so save havens can be set up easily under the Safe Haven Law and Anonymous Birth Law.
Currently, all baby boxes are being operated illegally. South Africa needs a system*) under which mothers can relinquish their babies safely, legally and, if wished, anonymously.
Other issues are the lack of accurate statistics on infant abandonment and the high frequency of children killed by abandonment being registered not as murders, but stillbirths. The government needs to open up their eyes to the sad reality that child abandonment is far too common in South Africa.
*) African laws do not take into consideration that the mothers did not have any other choice but to abandon their children; and this legal standpoint does not help to prevent child abandonment. To decrease child abandonment, legal solutions are needed to reduce illegal immigration, poverty, and unemployment.
Baby box critics have voiced opinions like “Fathers ignore their responsibility for children.”, “Mothers who surrender their babies to a baby box may get arrested.” and “The Right to Know one’s Origin is infringed.”