UPPER Highway Baby Home founders, Kerry and Gary Stanton, initially felt compelled to work with the vulnerable – either the environment, people or children.
Kerry, an environmental scientist, and Gary, a chartered accountant, started a baby home in 2019 and were at capacity within a month. They wondered why so many babies needed homes.
A quote from Archbishop Desmond Tutu resonated with them. He said, “There comes a point when you need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”
The couple applied this to their situation.
“We looked at where the babies came from. Most of our foster babies were from teenage moms, so we began working in the community, interviewing people casually, guaranteeing their anonymity.”
The Stantons found that many high school students had fathered a baby or given birth. A future goal is to secure funding to enable analysis and organisation of their research before putting it into the public domain. Kerry believes the actual statistic for abandoned babies to be higher than the official number.
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The couple initiated two programmes in response. The Saving Futures and First 1000 Days programmes have the aim of keeping young mothers in school and infants with a parent, to reduce the number of abandoned babies.
Kerry says, “Our Saving Futures programme helps with food, clothing, nappies, formula and age-appropriate toys. It’s no handout as the mother must stay in school and pass. The idea is to save the future of the school-going mom and the baby.
“The First 1000 Days programme is for moms who aren’t South African or don’t have documents, hindering their access to grants. It’s a net to catch people who fall through the system.”
The procedure for placing a baby for adoption is to approach the Department of Social Development (DSD) or accredited agencies such as Child Welfare Durban and District and Christian Social Service. Should the pregnant woman have the resources, she may contact a social worker in private practice. Online services, such as adoption.org.za, offer a valuable resource for women considering adoption for their unborn child. There is no legal way to give a baby up anonymously.
Kerry says most mothers who abandon their babies have no mal-in tent towards their offspring, and they purposely leave the infant where it will be found.
“Usually, moms who abandon their babies have tried every other means and are desperate. Often, teenaged mothers are pressurised into keeping and caring for the baby themselves,” she says.
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Kerry believes their focused programmes to be the only ones prioritising t
he education of the mother to protect the child. A matric certificate is a requirement for tertiary study and entry into the job market; thus, the teenage mother’s education is vital to ensure the child thrives. The programmes have yielded many success stories. Approximately 500 beneficiaries are enrolled into each programme, and Saving Futures is operating at capacity with a waiting list.
Kerry says it is challenging to provide for the baby home and their outreach programmes, as baby-related consumables are used in large volumes. She explains that the baby home uses 60 napp
ies and 79 bottles of formula daily for the babies in their care, and the community programmes distribute 5 000 nappies monthly, along with formula, clothing, stationery and other items.
For more information, email kerry@upperhighwaybabyhome.co.za.
