Baby Home reunites mom and baby
One of the first babies brought into the care of The Durban North Baby home has been reunited with her biological mother.
IN August this year The Durban North Baby Home had reached its full capacity with six orphaned, abandoned or legally surrendered infants.
However, earlier this month one of the babies was successfully reunited with her mother. According to house mother, Joanne Teunissen, the reunification came months after the mom legally surrendered her baby girl to Child Welfare.
“The mom, who was still in school at the time could not afford to take care of her baby. She did not have any immediate family to assist her either, so she sought assistance from Child Welfare,” explained Teunissen.
“The mother did not want to put her baby up for adoption, so the two-week-old baby girl was placed in our care and efforts were made to assist the mother,” she added.
Teunissen said they approached various organisations in the area to try and find a job for the mother, and finally a Durban North restaurant offered her a position.
“I am proud of how far this young woman has come. I am thrilled that mom and baby have been reunited, but even more so to know the mom has taken responsibility. At the end of the day all we want to see is that the babies are loved and cherished,” said the former teacher.
With the home’s only baby girl back in the arms of her biological mother, Joanne and her husband, Bjorn, who launched the home in December last year, thought it would take ages before they would encounter another pink babygrow.
But, within a matter of an hour of reuniting mom and baby they had to rush to Addington Hospital to collect a newborn baby girl that had been abandoned in the centre of Durban.
“It worked out so perfectly. Not only did we get to witness mom and baby being reunited, but now we were also able to assist this new little girl,” she said.
The Teunissens joined forces with The Peace Agency’s Justin and Cathy Foxton to open the home after their own successful adoption.
