WUNRN
CHINA-GUANGZHOU - "BABY
HAVEN" PROJECT CEASES TAKING NEW INFANTS DUE TO OVERCAPACITY - MANY
WITH BIRTH DEFECTS
March 17, 2014 - Editor: Sylvia Liu
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The pilot 'baby haven' project, an infant shelter set up by the local
child welfare institute to care for unwanted infants, in Guangzhou, capital
city of south China's Guangdong Province, stopped accepting new arrivals on
March 16, 2014, amid mounting pressure from the increasing number of
babies.[Sina Weibo] |
The pilot 'baby haven'
project, an infant shelter set up by the local child welfare institute to care
for unwanted infants, in Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong
Province, stopped taking in any new infants, on March 16, 2014, amid mounting pressure
from oversubscription. The project simply couldn't handle the increasing number
of babies it was helping.
Xu Jiu, director of the Guangzhou City Welfare Center (GCWC), said the 'baby
haven' has received 262 babies since it opened on January 28 this year, with
most of them suffering debilitating conditions caused by serious birth defects.
"The number of babies
we have received is much higher than those in other baby shelters around the
country over the same period," said Xu, adding that most were diagnosed
with conditions such as cerebral palsy, congenital heart disease, Down's
syndrome and cleft palates.
Xu pointed out that rooms, beds, quarantine facilities as well as working staff
in the GCWC are facing a shortfall due to the overwhelming number of babies the
shelter was caring for. A halt in intake would help the shelter focus better on
treating and finding homes for the babies that are already there, all of whom
are diagnosed with certain diseases, Xu added.
The cessation of new arrivals will only be temporary, during which the GCWC
will only receive abandoned infants sent by the police. The shelter will reopen
to the public when the situation improves, according to Zhuang Yuequn, director
of the Bureau of Civil Affairs of Guangzhou.
"The 'safe haven' program has been launched in more than 50 countries
around the world; it allows a parent to safely and anonymously abandon an
infant and consists of an incubator, a delayed alarm device, an air conditioner
and a baby bed. A person can place their baby in the shelter, press the alarm
button, and leave. Welfare staff retrieve the baby five to 10 minutes later.
The 'safe haven' program was launched by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to
provide shelter for unwanted children, giving them a chance to survive.
The first 'baby hatch' in
In spite of the benefits of having a baby hatch, there is still controversy
over the system. Some believe that setting up such a facility sends out the
wrong message, especially since abandoning babies is a crime according to
"The government should crack down on the crime of abandoning children,
instead of publicly setting up facilities for parents to abandon their babies.
It is encouraging the practice and may even lead some disadvantaged families to
abandon their children," said Ding, a resident of
"The baby hatch will not solve the fundamental problem behind the issue of
baby abandonment," Ding added.
"Previously you had to abandon a baby in secret, but now it feels like if
you don't want your baby, you can just go to the baby hatch and leave it
there," said another Nanjing resident surnamed Wang.
During the second session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) that
concluded last week in
Chen Shu, chief editor of Guangzhou Lawyer Magazine, suggested that
the government should pay closer attention to the defects in the system, and
proposed making premarital examination a public service provided by the
government to lower the birth defect rate.
"We need to have an objective understanding of genetic defects, and we
need to understand that they are inevitable. One in every 33 new born babies in
the