Baby hatch

Foundling wheels were abandoned in the late 19th century, but a modern form, the baby hatch, was reintroduced from 1952[2] and since 2000 has been adopted in many countries, most notably in Pakistan where there are more than 300.

[2] The hatches are usually in hospitals, social centres, or churches, and consist of a door or flap in an outside wall which opens onto a soft bed, heated or at least insulated.

Mothers placed the child in the cylinder, turned it around so that the baby was inside the church, and then rang a bell to alert caretakers.

One example of this type which can still be seen today is in the Santo Spirito hospital at the Vatican City; this wheel was installed in medieval times and used until the 19th century.

Foundling wheels were legalised in an imperial decree of January 19, 1811, and at their height, there were 251 in France, according to author Anne Martin-Fugier.

However, the number of children left there rose into the tens of thousands per year, as a result of the desperate economic situation at the time, and in 1863 they were closed down and replaced by "admissions offices" where mothers could give up their child anonymously but could also receive advice.

Today in France, women are allowed to give birth anonymously in hospitals (accouchement sous X) and leave their baby there.

A baby hatch was installed by Door of Hope Children's Mission (Hole in the Wall) in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1999 after the pastor, Cheryl Allen, learned that a high number of newly born infants were abandoned.

Another modern baby hatch was installed in the Altona district of Hamburg, Germany on 11 April 2000, after a series of cases in 1999 where children were abandoned and found dead from exposure.

After a short delay to allow the person who left the child to leave anonymously, a silent alarm was set off which alerted staff.

In modern times, baby hatches are more often intended to be used by mothers who are unable to cope with looking after their own child and do not wish to divulge their identity.

[8] In some countries, it is not legal for mothers to give birth anonymously in a hospital, and the baby hatch is the only way they can safely and secretly leave their child to be cared for by others.

In India[9] and Pakistan,[2] the purpose of baby hatches is mainly to provide an alternative to female infanticide, which occurs due to socio-economic factors including the high cost of dowries.

The local social services office for children and young people (Jugendwohlfahrt) takes care of the child for the first six months and then it is given up for adoption.

[26] The government-run orphanage in eastern China opened its first baby hatch on 1 June 2014, International Children's Day, as a symbolic step to show the country's commitment to improving child welfare.

[24] The number of babies with congenital defects has soared over the past decade, with upwards of 900,000 such cases reported each year.

In December 2007, there were five "Babyboxes" in the republic: Prague-Hloubětín, Brno, Olomouc, Kadaň and Zlín, and the next were planned in Pelhřimov, Ústí nad Orlicí, Mladá Boleslav and Sokolov in 2008.

[34] In France, the Vichy government adopted the Legislative Decree of 2 September 1941[36] on the Protection of Births allowing children to be born anonymously.

This law, somewhat modified, became the modern right to anonymous birth (accouchement sous X) set down in the French Social Action and Families Code (Art.

The act is considered a declaration of abandonment and consent to adoption if the family does not return within six weeks to claim the child.

[42][43] In Tamil Nadu state, a baby hatch was set up in 1994 by the then Chief Minister, J. Jayalalithaa, to prevent female infanticide.

In 2002, an "e-cradle" scheme[clarification needed] was also introduced in southern India after an abandoned newborn baby was torn apart by dogs in the street near Trivandrum Medical College.

[45] In December 2006 a modern hatch was installed at the Policlinico Casilino in Rome and in February 2007 it received its first abandoned child.

[46] In 2006 the Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture announced it was setting up a "storks' cradle" to try to reduce the number of abandoned babies and abortions.

The police during a two day long process find out if the child has been reported as missing, after that the baby is given the status of a foundling and can be put up for adoption.

In years since, the Beschermde Wieg Foundation has opened abandoned children rooms in the cities of Groningen, Middelburg, Oudenbosch, Papendrecht, Rotterdam and Zwolle.

Along with installing and setting up baby hatches, the organization works to prevent infanticide, and helps families cope with crisis situations.

In September 2016 the ban was approved by the Russian government, stating that special places for anonymous abandonment of newborns violate the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Before the Special Adoption Law was passed in August 2012, Lee said that the baby box received an average of about two newborns per month, but that number has risen to about 19 as of 2013.

[8] There are eight baby hatches in Switzerland, almost all privately operated, at hospitals in Davos, Einsiedeln, Bellinzona, Olten, Bern, Zollikerberg ZH, Basel and Sion.