Japan: Six infants abandoned at baby-drop box
Public opinion on an anonymous baby drop box is improving, according to the hospital in southern Japan that operates the facility, amid media reports that six infants have been left there in three months.
The “Stork’s Cradle” opened in May at the Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto City with the aim of discouraging abortion and the abandonment of children. People can leave babies in an incubator via a small hatch at the side of the hospital. The children are cared for by the hospital, then put up for adoption.
A toddler was left at the facility on May 10, the day it opened, sparking public outrage. The hospital has received five boys and a girl in total, including two newcomers this month, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Hospital secretary Hiromichi Noguchi refused to confirm the figures or any other details, citing patient privacy.
NHK reported today that a boy, believed to be about one month old, was left at the box on August 8 and was sent to a local child welfare centre. His parents showed up about 10 days later to reclaim him – something that no other parents of children abandoned at the drop box have done, the report said.
Another male infant, believed to be just a few days old, was abandoned at the hospital last week, NHK said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called the anonymous abandonment of children "unacceptable", and the facility itself has had mixed reviews.
“There are still pros and cons, and that’s the way it goes,” Noguchi said, pointing out that the hospital still receives emails, letters and phone calls about the drop box.
“But the tone of the messages seems to have changed. I think we are slowly but gradually gaining more public understanding.”
The hospital created the drop box following a series of high-profile cases last year in which newborns were abandoned in parks and at supermarkets, triggering a public outcry and government warnings against abandoning babies.
The number of children raised at Japanese orphanages rose to about 30,400 in 2003, up 13% from about 27,000 in 1998, according to Health Ministry statistics.
