Baby saver advocates are demanding urgent progress on the Children’s Amendment Bill as newborn babies continue to be abandoned in bins, beneath bridges and in public spaces, with an estimated 3,500 infants abandoned in South Africa each year.
Advocates for safe baby relinquishment are calling for urgent progress on the Children’s Amendment Bill, arguing that regulated baby savers could prevent unsafe infant abandonment.
South Africa does not have a reliable, up-to-date national database recording every abandoned baby, with an estimated 3,500 babies reported abandoned annually said Youandi Gilain, director of Isiaiah 54 Children's Sanctuary - a place of safety for abused and abandoned babies and children in Durban. She is also the founder of Open Arms SA, an online helpdesk for pregnant women and birth mothers.
On Thursday, a baby was found dead in a bin in Capricorn in the Muizenberg district. On Tuesday, a woman dumped her newborn baby under a pedestrian bridge in Merebank. Police spokesperson Captain Ntathu Ndlovu said the Wentworth SAPS have opened a case of concealment of birth. He said investigations into this incident are underway.
On Sunday, Durban police found a dead baby boy near Addington beach in Durban, partially covered by sand. And a newborn baby girl was found alive inside a plastic bag in an open veld in Doornfontein, in July. The public alerted Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) officers to the sound of a baby crying.
