New-born dumped outside Durban North baby home
The baby was covered in a dirty blanket and left outside the gate.
A NEW-BORN baby was found dumped outside The Domino Babies Home on Adelaide Tambo (formerly Kensington Drive) just after midnight on Monday.
Staff at the home heard a baby crying. The sound was coming from outside the front gate. The baby girl, estimated to be a week old, was wrapped in a dirty blanket, had a cloth nappy and had a piece of string tied around its umbilical cord.
“I don’t think whoever left the little girl outside our premises was aware of the baby safe. Our crisis care parents heard her crying and came out to investigate. She was a little cold and taken to the hospital and given a check up,” explained Melanie Turner, project leader at the Domino Babies Home.
“Child welfare has placed the little girl in our care and she is doing well and healthy.”
When a baby is placed inside the safe a sensor immediately goes off notifying three people at the babies home. The baby is then removed from the box immediately and the home alerts the police, doctors and welfare.
Shiraz….Why use the word DUMPED? Why not say abandoned or left? This mother obviously wanted her child to be cared for by dropping her infront of OUR gate and not in a rubbish bin. Does anyone consider her desperation or lack of resources and fear to do such a thing? She could have aborted or dumped her in a rubbish bin…then the word DUMPED would be appropriate. Do not judge lest you be judged. Next time perhaps i will offer no comment to the papers.
Good on the mom for placing her baby exactly where she did…outside the babies home where she may have known that there would be people there to care for her precious bundle, who was wrapped in a blanket, not left to freeze. Never mind if the blanket was spotless or dirty, it may have been all the mom had to offer, together with a hope for life for the baby. Until we have walked in others shoes, let us not assume that we would do any better.
Instead of highlighting what a wonderful job the Domino Foundation have done you instead choose to use the “bad news sell” point of view on this story… In a world that is already full of sadness, anger and despair this would have been a perfect opportunity to shed some light on a really sad situation.
This mother did not abort, nor did she DUMP her baby in a place where she could not be found but instead placed her at the gates of an incredible place of safety knowing that the baby would be looked after, loved and cherished.
Judging before you have walked a mile in someone else’s shoes is not the way to move forward in life. The “dirty blanket” may have been the only possession that this mother had and it kept the baby warm.
The baby safe is an incredible idea and it would be wonderful to see corporate sponsorship of this initiative all over our city. The reality of the situation is that there are people who’s circumstances are so desperate that they need to have a safe place for their baby to go.