Baby Savers SA hopes to change the narrative on baby abandonment

The Northcliff Melville Times recently reported on a newborn baby girl that was discovered in a field in Roosevelt Park.

She has been named Masana and is doing well, according to the organisation in whose care she was placed.

The paper is now investigating ‘baby boxes’ as an option available to mothers in distress, who might otherwise choose to unsafely abandon their babies.

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Dr Whitney Rosenberg is a senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg and obtained her doctorate in safe methods of baby relinquishment in South Africa.

She is president of Baby Savers South Africa (BSSA), an NGO working nationwide to create awareness and provide safe options for mothers wishing to relinquish their babies.

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BSSA has 35 organisations across the country who have installed safe relinquishment boxes or baby savers, for abandoned babies. These organisations have met in-house criteria in terms of process and coordination with welfare bodies and child protection services.

Their primary aim is to preserve the life of a baby that might otherwise be unsafely abandoned in a field, pit latrine or park which in most instances results in the death of the infant.

Safe relinquishment of the infant via a baby saver box needs to be judged differently they say in law, if the mother has acted in a way to preserve life and the baby is relinquished showing no signs of abuse.

BSSA is an advocacy body too that saw Rosenberg in March make a presentation to the Department of Social Development (DSD) portfolio committee.

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“Our input was in anticipation of the release of the Children’s Act Amendment Bill where we requested that baby savers be legalised to preserve a child’s right to life and human dignity, but we have had no feedback from the input.”

Baby Savers SA have now sought independent legal advice to hopefully get a resolution.

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In Durban recently a 23-year-old mother abandoned her baby with a note describing how she had tried twice unsuccessfully to engage with social workers for assistance, and was unable to access a safe abortion.

These are the kinds of situations BSSA are trying to prevent. “We don’t want a system where mothers are scared to safely relinquish their babies because of fears of prosecution so she uses a field to abandon her baby. We want the preservation of life at all costs which means we need safe, anonymous baby saver boxes,” said Rosenberg.

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She stresses that pregnant women, or those who have given birth that present themselves to organisations can often get counselling or support which may result in the baby remaining with its mother, if for example the reason for wanting to give up the baby is financial. She further stresses that baby savers be seen as a last resort where pregnancy counselling has failed.

Baby Savers SA has an online petition with over 23 000 signatures so far calling for the legalisation of the safe relinquishment of babies to change.

Door of Hope Children’s Mission – member of Baby Savers SA

INFOGRAPHIC

• First modern baby saver box installed in Berea in 1999
• Have received close to 1 859 babies with most coming via the police or social services – of those, 259 were through the baby saver box in the wall
• Three weeks ago, a baby was placed in the box still covered in blood and mucus after birth. Its umbilical cord had not been clamped – this was a desperate mother who didn’t even have the resources or time to wipe the baby down before she acted to give it a better life.

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Nadene Grabham, co-founder of BSSA and operations director at Door of Hope Children’s Mission spoke about teenage pregnancy, poverty, rape and other ills that push a mother to abandon her baby. “There are so many broken systems in South Africa which make it difficult for pregnant women to access support services if they need them.”

While understanding that baby savers are illegal, she says, “We get the vast majority of our babies from social services or the police because there are extremely limited alternatives. This is why government needs to come to the party so we can find tenable alternatives for unsafe abandonment of babies and unnecessary loss of life.”

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Some of the Baby Saver SA locations in Johannesburg for the safe relinquishment of babies:

• Door of Hope 1: 48 Hillbrow Street, Berea, 082 776 0502
• Door of Hope 2: 17 Doris Avenue, Berea, 082 776 0502
• Impact Africa 1: 835 Ravele Street, Ext 2, Diepsloot, 071 618 2002
• Tree of Hope: 23 5th Ave, corner 2nd Street, Edenvale, 083 456 5954
• Just in Time: 70 Kliprand Road, Roodepoort, 062 045 8219
• Impact Africa 2: Corner Arizona and Florida Roads, Cosmos City, 071 618 2002

All venues rely on donations, please visit www.babysaverssa.co.za or email info@babysaverssa.co.za to see how you can help.

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