Baby Hatch - International Situation

International Situation

• Austria – In 2005, six towns had them.
• Belgium – The association Moeders voor Moeders ("Mothers for mothers") set up the first babyschuif in the Borgerhout district of Antwerp in 2000. It is known as Moeder Mozes Mandje – "mothers' Moses basket" located in the "Helmstraat" . Since its inception, 2 unknown babies ( Thomas and Michaël) were found in the baby hatch in Borgerhout. Another baby (Marieke) was saved after the mother called the emergency telephone while in labor. These have been given "De Kleine" (roughly translated "the small child") as their last name.
• Canada – In May 2010, St. Paul's Hospital Vancouver announced the intention to open Canada's first "angel's cradle".
• Czech Republic – The first baby hatch was set up in July 2005 in Prague by Babybox – Statim. In March 2006, three children had been left there. In December 2007, there were 5 "Babyboxes" in the republic: Prague-Hloubětín, Brno, Olomouc, Kadaň and Zlín, and the next were planned in Pelhřimov, Ústí nad Orlicí, Mladá Boleslav and Sokolov in 2008. From 2005–2007, ten infants were put in babyboxes, seven of them in Prague. Some of them returned to their mother or were inserted with full documentation. As of December 2011 there were 47, and 62 children had already been left there with one baby box being used 13 times.
• Germany – Baby hatches have been used again since 2000; in 2005 there were more than 80 baby hatches in towns all across the country.
• Hungary – Around a dozen baby hatches, usually run by hospitals. The first opened in 1996 in the Schopf-Merei Agost hospital in Budapest.
• India – In Tamil Nadu state, a baby hatch was set up in 1994 by the then Chief Minister, J. Jayalalithaa, to prevent female infanticide. This kind of baby is called Thottil Kuzhanthai (cradle baby), raised by the state and entitled to free education. In 2002 an "e-cradle" scheme was also introduced in southern India after an abandoned newborn baby was torn apart by dogs in the street near Trivandrum Medical College.
• Italy – About 8 hatches, set up by the "Movement for Life". In December 2006 a modern hatch was installed at the Policlinico Casilino in Rome and in February 2007 it received its first abandoned child. There are also plans to install one at the Santo Spirito hospital at the Vatican City, the home of one of the original foundling wheels.
• Japan – in 2006 the Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture announced it was setting up a "storks' cradle" to try to reduce the number of abandoned babies and abortions. As of November 26, 2009, a total of 51 babies have been accepted, and this system has been under the strict guidance of a special committee which pointed out that the acceptance of anonymous babies might reduce the moral philosophy of people.
• Netherlands – In 2003 plans to open a babyluik in Amsterdam did not go ahead after heavy protest. State Secretary for Health Clémence Ross suggested that baby hatches were illegal.
• Pakistan – The Edhi Foundation has around 300 centres which offer a jhoola service which is said to have saved over 16,000 lives; the jhoola is a white metal hanging cradle with a mattress, where the baby can be left anonymously outside the centre. A bell can be rung, and staff also check the cradle once an hour.
• Philippines – The Hospicio de San Jose in Manila, founded in 1810 and run by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, has a "turning cradle" marked "Abandoned Babies Received Here".
• Poland – In 2012, forty-seven towns had them.
• Slovakia - There are sixteen baby hatches in fifteen cities across Slovakia. Between December 2004, when the first baby hatch was opened, and April 2004 thirty babies have been left behind.
• South Africa – The non-profit organisation "Door Of Hope" set up a "hole in the wall" in August 2000 at the Mission Church in Johannesburg. By March 2011 around 96 babies had been left there.
• Switzerland – One was installed at the Einsiedeln hospital on May 9, 2001.
• United States – Baby hatches as such are not known in the United States; however, all 50 states have introduced "Safe-haven laws" since Texas began on September 1, 1999. These allow parents to legally give up their newborn child (younger than 72 hours) anonymously to certain places known as "safe havens", such as fire stations and hospitals. The laws have different names in different states, e.g. California's Safely Surrendered Baby Law and some have different age limits, e.g. Nebraska's Safe-haven law had no age limit, allowing all children under 18 years of age to be abandoned, but this law was amended in November 2008.