Dumped babies: let’s do something

RECENTLY, international news websites were riddled with breaking news of a newborn baby who was dumped in a filthy drain and left to die in Port Elizabeth.

The devastating news was accompanied by a graphic picture of the infant. Amazingly, the baby survived.

It is an image I will never forget. The sheer brutality of what I saw was incomparable – brutal enough to make international headlines.

My first thought was of utter despair and I invariably questioned myself: “How can the parents be so cruel to such an innocent angel?”

The despair I felt quickly changed to anger when I understood this was a blatant disregard for human life.

Mothers viewing the article commented on how lucky the parents were to be able to have a child. Many even offered to adopt the baby, since they could not have their own.

The other comments were of anger – that a developing country such as South Africa should have better facilities to accommodate children and that these parents should be charged with murder.

SA legislation does clearly state that abandonment of a child by a parent or guardian constitutes child abuse (Children’s Act, No 38 of 2005).

Other recent cases include a two-week-old baby found abandoned at a park in Chatsworth. Two babies were also found abandoned under a bridge and in a drain in Grahamstown.

Child Welfare statistics reflected that 3 500 babies were abandoned in 2010.

The SA Medical Research Council found that in 2009, 454 children were killed, listing abandonment as the most common cause of death.

These statistics are only the ones that are documented. The reality remains that there are thousands of abandoned children in our country.

Change is what we need and only we can change the situation. As a community, we need to lead by example.

This can be done by educating young mothers on alternative adoption facilities or assisting new parents with family advice.

You can also help by donating to local orphanages and charities such as Little Feet Baby Home and Isaiah 54, which are homes for abandoned babies.

We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone. In the kind words of Mother Teresa: “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

VELISA NAICKER Chatsworth