Baby Bins???

[DucksNuts]

'Baby bins' installed to halt spate of infanticides

By Roger Boyes in Berlin

March 28, 2007 12:00am
Article from: The Australian


DESPERATE mothers are being urged to drop their unwanted babies through hatches at hospitals in an effort to halt a spate of infanticides that has shocked Germany.
At least 23 babies have been killed so far this year, many of them beaten to death or strangled by their mothers before being dumped on wasteland or in rubbish bins.

Police investigating the murders are at a loss to explain the sudden surge in such cases, which have involved mothers of all ages all over the country.

Now city councils have launched an advertising campaign to highlight the problem and to promote greater use of the Baby-Klappe hatches that allow women to drop off their babies to be found and cared for without having to give their names.

Posters were being put up in cities and towns across Germany yesterday, urging women to make use of the Baby-Klappe, with the slogan "Before babies land in the rubbish bin ..."

The baby-drops, modelled on foundling wheels first used in Italy in medieval times, are not the final antidote to these killings, but they do offer an alternative for some mothers.

The drop-off point is usually hidden from view, shielded by trees and away from security cameras.

The baby is put on to a tray that slides through a hole in the wall and is gently lowered into a heated cot.

An alarm bell alerts nursing staff - but only after the mother has been given sufficient time to make a getaway.

The baby can be reclaimed, usually up to three months later, should the mother change her mind.

The campaign has attracted criticism from senior clergymen and charities, who argue that it could encourage mothers to dump their children.

But there is agreement that something must be done to address what appears to be an infanticide epidemic.

Last Thursday, a 27-year-old woman known as Sabine H. surrendered to police in an eastern German town after her newborn child was found in a blue plastic rubbish bag trapped in the reeds of a lake.

In the same week, Monika K, 26, was arrested on suspicion of throwing her baby out of a 10-storey Hamburg apartment building, wrapped in a plastic shopping bag.

She had given birth to him half an hour before, in the bath. A dog scratched open the bag.

For the past week, Susanne H. from Baiersdorf in Bavaria has been on trial for strangling her baby daughter and putting her in the freezer.

The 39-year-old mother of two boys, aged 10 and 4, feared her boyfriend's disapproval.

"He threatened to throw me out if I concealed another pregnancy from him," she told the court.

Another woman was arrested in Kiel, in Germany's north, a week ago after police found two dead babies in her freezer. One was stillborn a year ago; the other was a recent live birth.

Earlier this month, a driver pulled up at a car park in Kiel and found the corpse of a young baby in a waste-paper basket.

The DNA coincided with that of another baby fished out of a rubbish sorting depot a year ago; the mother has not been traced.

Experts believe the true number of infanticide cases is even higher than the 23 that have come to light.

Political support for the campaign has come from the Greens, but the Government is more wary, fearing legal problems.

On occasions, children with severe disabilities or babies aged more than three months have been dumped: both in breach of the law.

In Berlin alone, six babies have been pushed through a slot since they were introduced in 2003.

Initial scepticism started to melt after a woman in eastern Germany was arrested for letting nine of her babies die. Some were buried in plant pots in her garden.

My initial reaction was wtf? no nononononono!!

But now I think its a really good idea!!!