Authorities in China have established 25 new places where parents can safely and anonymously leave the infants that for myriad reasons they’re unable to keep.
Authorities in China have established 25 new places where parents can safely and anonymously leave the infants that for myriad reasons they’re unable to keep.
The buildings are commonly called ‘baby hatches’ and are equipped with both an alarm and an incubator to help the baby survive.
Once left, an alarm goes off and someone arrives within 10 minutes to retrieve the child.
The hatches aren’t intended to condone child abandonment, an act that’s illegal in the country, but rather to raise the baby’s chance of survival in a situation that’s become increasingly commonplace.
Reasons why parents leave their children behind vary, but the most common cause is often assumed to be China’s law limiting the number of babies a family can have.
Often in that situation, boys are the favored choice and girls are given up.
Since the baby hatches have opened, officials haven’t found a significantly higher number of girls than boys, however.
What they are noticing is that the majority of the babies abandon suffer from severe illnesses or birth defects.
Many say it’s likely because parents lack the financial means to care for them, and the country lacks a sufficient welfare system to help them.
