Metro

Thursday August 20, 2009

Hope for abandoned babies

By FAZLEENA AZIZ


DON’T you cringe when you hear stories of newborns being abandoned at rubbish dumps or worse, die from the ordeal?

Usually, these are unwanted babies, but they are human beings who deserve to be loved and cared for.

Thus, the idea of a one-stop non-profit organisation to set up a baby hatch brings hope for these babies.

OrphanCare will set up the country’s first baby hatch in September, tentatively after Hari Raya AidilFitri in Petaling Jaya.

According to wikipedia, a baby hatch is a place where mothers can bring their babies, usually newborn, and leave them anonymously in a safe place to be found and cared for.

This kind of arrangement was common in mediaeval times and in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the device was known as a foundling wheel.

Foundling wheels were taken out of use in the late 1800s but a modern form, the baby hatch, began to be introduced again from 1996 and since 2000 has come into use in many countries, notably in Germany where there are about 80 hatches today.

In German-speaking countries the hatch is known as a Babyklappe (baby hatch or flap) or Babyfenster (baby window); in Italian as Culle per la vita (cradle for life); in Japan as (baby post box).

The hatches are usually in hospitals or social centres and consist of a door or flap in an outside wall which opens to reveal a soft bed, heated or at least insulated.

Sensors in the bed alert carers when a baby has been put in it so that they can come and take care of the child.

In Germany, babies are first cared for for eight weeks during which the mother can return and claim her child without any legal repercussions. If this does not happen, after eight weeks the child is put up for adoption.

According to OrphanCare president Adnan Mohd Tahir they were finalising the details with the relevant authorities.

Adnan said the free service was aimed at reducing the number of abandoned babies as well as providing refuge for single mothers.

Their objective is simple — to give every orphan and abandoned baby a loving family.

“Instead of leaving the babies at toilets or in bins, this is an alternative option. There are many cases where babies are dumped while some are left to die.

“We want to save the babies and get them adopted. We also want to help children from orphanages to be adopted,” he said.

“Orphanages should be the last resort for the children and be a transit point before they get adopted.

“It will be impossible for these children to get the same love from a family compared with an orphanage where there are only 20 caretakers,” he said.

He said Malaysians should also be open to the idea of fostering, which is a temporary situation before legal adoption.

OrphanCare secretary Noraini Hashim said they would welcome pregnant women who might be single mothers and have no one to turn to or help them bring up their babies.

“We will care for them until they deliver their babies. We prefer if they were not anonymous and give consent letter for adoption,” she said.

She said there were 40 parents on standby to adopt children with OrphanCare.

OrphanCare also aims to compile a database of Malaysian orphans and interested adoptive families in order to match the orphans with suitable families.

They also provide counselling and advise to parents in issues pertaining to adoption.

The period for adoption for Muslims involves two years of fostering due to the Registration Act and syariah laws.

For non-Muslims, the period is much shorter and followed by an application in court.

OrphanCare is also looking out for full-time caretakers.

They also seek donations in the form of baby necessities like clothes, bottles, diapers and milk.For details, call 03-6201 7015 or visit them at www.orphancare.org.my.

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