The Baby Box or boxes for babies, the controversial solution to save the lives of abandoned newborns

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Each abandoned baby is a blow to the heart of a society, uncomfortable news for the part that may touch us as citizens.

Recently the lifeless body of a newborn appeared in a landfill on the outskirts of Granada.

Before the end of 2023,

living children will have been thrown into bins in their first 24 hours of life.

Most will be found dead.

Conrado Jiménez, president of the Madrid Foundation, tells us that each of these neonaticides (committed in the first 24 hours of life) is one more reason to analyze how it could have been avoided.

would prevent the abandonment of many babies and would save many lives," he advances to YO DONA.

The origin of the problem

In her opinion, the majority of mothers who make the decision to abandon their child at birth do so dragged by a situation "of

from the Social Services."

She advises prudence before judging.

They are almost always women who have been abandoned by their partners or who, due to different circumstances, live through their pregnancy with panic, threats and extreme vulnerability.

"At the Foundation we frequently assist pregnant single mothers who, due to their culture or religion, cannot tell their families that they are expecting a child due to the punishment they would receive, sometimes even death or spraying with sulfur. It is just one example," he explains. .

The rest are mothers,

who give birth alone, are forced or abandoned without any kind of resources and without the ability to face the birth of a baby.

Why Baby Box

Among the "direct, comprehensive and simple" measures and social aid that could prevent and combat neonaticide, Jiménez proposes an urgent change in the legislation that allows semi-open adoptions or the use of so-called Baby Boxes,

such as a Foundation, in which the mother could deposit the baby with the assurance that it will receive the best care and its anonymity will be respected.

In Spain, current legislation requires identification when giving a minor up for adoption.

"The right to life of these newborns should take precedence over the right to know the identity of the biological mother who wishes to give her child up for adoption. From experience with the cases that we have dealt with at the Foundation, we know that sometimes the parents who find themselves in this borderline situation

The situation in other countries

Baby Boxes have been implemented in many countries.

They make it easier for the mother to leave her baby with the

"It is a space of trust for a woman who sees herself in an extreme and desperate situation. Nobody asks her and nobody judges her. She is simply given an alternative," Jiménez insists.

In the United States, the promoter of the Baby Box is

a doctor and volunteer firefighter raised in Ohio after her biological mother gave her up for adoption.

At 37, already married and with children, she managed to locate her and discovered that her birth was the result of rape when her mother was still a teenager.

She also learned that, two hours after her birth, she was abandoned at the hospital.

Baby Box in Brandenburg (Germany).Getty

To this revelation was added the discovery

of a metal box embedded in the outer wall.

They explained that it was a baby safe that had been put up after a baby wrapped in a duffel bag was found at the foot of the building.

She thought her idea was great to provide that second life that they also gave her and inspired the foundation that she named

He inaugurated the first box in Indiana, in 2016, and since then there are already at least 134 throughout the country, almost always in fire stations and hospitals.

The last baby saved was, just a few weeks ago, in Florida.

He was also the first to arrive at the only cradle that exists in this state.

When Kelsey puts out a new Baby Box she knows that sooner or later, she will have a newborn.

How Baby Boxes work

These devices

Its interior is padded and incorporates temperature controls that guarantee the survival of the newborn.

A silent alarm immediately connects to the authorities as soon as it detects that the outer door is opened.

The baby is immediately transferred to a hospital for medical attention before beginning the adoption process.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes has already cared for several dozen children since April 2016.

An official explains the operation of a Baby Box in South Korea.Getty

The solution is inspired by the old revolving cribs or foundling wheels that were on the walls of orphanages run by nuns, convents and other places of worship in Europe.

In the 12th century, alarmed by the number of newborn corpses stranded in the Tiber River, Pope Innocent III encouraged this measure.

Modern Baby Boxes are not without controversy, precisely because they circumvent the conventional protocol required for adoptions and the

without parental consent.

Other legislations

In.

In 2012, a United Nations committee called for an end to this practice, but the truth is that many countries are legislating to favor these devices and provide them with high technology.

According to a report by the National Safe Haven Alliance, from 1999 to 2021, at least

were surrendered under so-called safe haven laws.

They exist in

and some Asian countries.

In

, a country where 400 children are abandoned each year, they are called 'culle per la vita' or cradles for life.

In June 2021, the mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever, announced the arrival of a baby in one of these cribs by posing with him in his arms on his Instagram account and feeling "the guardian of this little miracle."

His daughters named him Finn and he remembered that the mother still had time to go after him.

View this post on Instagram

Also in Spain, the mother, once she signs the waiver of her child's authority, has a month and a half to reflect before giving it up for adoption.

From the Godmother Foundation, Jiménez insists on that other option of the Baby Box for those women in extreme emotional vulnerability.

We would not like a new tragedy like the one in Granada to have to occur to prove its need," she concludes.

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