A Constitutional Court bid has been launched to stop the government from criminalising parents who abandon their children due to their inability to take care of them.
The National Adoption Coalition of South Africa (Nacsa) has warned against criminalising parents who abandon their children without offering alternative solutions.
The challenge to the apex court is to have more protection for individuals and organisations taking up abandoned children or giving them up.
The coalition’s Dr. Dee Blackie said during her research for her Master’s degree 3 500 children had been abandoned in South Africa in 2010.
Blackie said this is an abandonment to the child welfare system and excludes organisations such as Door of Hope and other child protection organisations. She said the Johannesburg Child Welfare had five to six children being abandoned every single week to the organisation’s care.
Blackie said there was a danger with the government not keeping statistics which leads to the problem not being acknowledged.
According to Blackie, the country needs a safe haven provision and an amendment to the Children’s Act as she has been campaigning over the years.
Blackie believes that infant abandonment reflects broader societal issues, including poverty, gender-based violence, and restrictive laws.“Criminalising desperate mothers does not solve the problem,” she said.
Baby Savers SA (BSSA) has attempted to engage constructively with the government on the need for legal recognition of baby savers as an alternative for mothers in crisis
“This is about giving babies a chance at life and ensuring that no mother feels forced to abandon her child in a life-threatening environment,” BSSA’s Nadene Grabham said.
The BSSA has attempted to engage constructively with the Department of Social Development on this issue for many years, without success, including by presenting to Parliament’s Committee on Social Development three years ago.
“We need legal recognition of baby savers as an alternative for mothers in crisis. This is about giving babies a chance at life and ensuring that no mother feels forced to abandon her child in a life-threatening environment,” Grabham said.
Blackie said the law in South Africa state that all abandonment is illegal and a parent is not allowed to anonymously leave a child somewhere and it is a criminal offence referred to as concealment of birth.
She said the campaign was ultimately planned to provide a safe alternative to abandonment so that childrens’ rights to life can be fulfilled. In addition, it would also protect the rights of abandoned children and give them access to a safe alternative to unsafe abandonment.
“We are not trying to say do not prosecute illegal abandonment but safe relinquishment of a child should be allowed,” Blackie explained.
She continued: “They are forcing women to leave their children and make desperate choices to leave their children in unsafe spaces because they feel even if they leave them they are going to jail.”
The National Department of Social Development keeps statistics of abandonment of children in the National Child Protection Register.
The department states that it conducts education and awareness on sexual and reproductive health rights including dealing with unwanted pregnancy including life skills programmes to address teenage pregnancies.
