Voluntary ‘Baby Abandonment’ Soars In South Africa Due to COVID-19

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A Johannesburg NGO, ‘Door of Hope’, is worried as lots of families abandon their babies due to the terrible economic situation in the coronavirus lockdown.

According to reports, since the shutdown, the organisation has received seven new babies.

Expressing worry over the situation, Nadene Graham, Door of Hope operations director, stated: “The concern is just between six (different) homes 30 babies have been taken in since lockdown, and a lot of the cases these are older babies”.

She added: “Generally you would get babies between newborn and about a month old, but there are some cases where children as old as nine months have been taken in that have been found abandoned.”

Graham also expresses fears that these numbers will increase with time as the lockdown hits the most vulnerable communities.

The African Examiner reports that the NGO cares for abandoned children in Johannesburg using ‘baby box’ outside their homes which allows parents to safely give up their children.