A mother, in a desperate attempt to get a different life for her daughter, tried to courier her to an orphanage. According to a report, the 24-year-old mother from Fujian, China tried to send her daughter to an orphanage by wrapping her in a plastic bag!
When the courier came to pick the package up, the mother stopped him from checking the contents. The person became suspicious when he heard the sound of crying coming out of the package. And when he opened it, he was shocked to find a baby inside the package! The umbilical cord had not fallen off, indicating that the baby was born just days before the incident.
A video in circulation shows people trying to help the baby. A man is seen trying to feed the baby some water while a woman holds her.
The baby was rushed to a hospital where she is quite stable. The mother has been apprehended and faces a jail sentence for abandoning the baby. In all probability, the child would end up with foster parents.
Abandonment of babies
The brutal reality of the world is that babies are abandoned every day all over the world. Most of these babies are born with some form of congenital illness. A few are born out of wedlock and it becomes difficult for the mother to take care of the baby. In a few rare instances, the baby is orphaned at birth and is abandoned by the close relatives. The reasons are various, but the common theme is that parents or foster-parents are reluctant to take care of the baby.
To prevent this from happening, the Government of Singapore has many programmes in place. Women’s health is an issue that is not ignored in Singapore. If a couple is not ready for the child, they have options to safely terminate the pregnancy. A few who go through the pregnancy may give up the baby for adoption. In fact, according to a report, with the decline in the babies available for adoption in Singapore, people are turning to online forums to adopt babies.
This is so much better than abandoning the babies. In Singapore, it is an offence to abandon a baby and might lead to imprisonment up to 7 years. Many factors, including awareness of options a couple has about dealing with unwanted babies, has led to a significant fall in the number of abandoned babies in Singapore.
What to do if you stumble upon an abandoned baby
It is a quite rare phenomenon, but there is always a minute possibility of this happening. If it happens, call 999 and let them know immediately.
While the help is on the way, you need to ensure that the baby is alert and breathing. If you find something in the baby’s mouth, you can gently remove it with a finger. If the child is unresponsive, give a CPR if necessary. Be very careful while doing this, or let someone else do it if you are under confident.
Once the baby is safe, the emergency services hand it over to the ministry’s Child Protection Service. Here, they try to locate the parents. If they are successful in doing so, the cause of abandonment is assessed. In rare cases, the baby has been kidnapped and abandoned, and the parents are glad to have the baby back.
If one or both of the parents have abandoned the baby, the cause is considered and the child ends up in foster care. If the parents are not found, or the parents are not capable of taking good care of the baby, it is then put up for adoption. By doing so, the ministry ensures that the child is safe and the risk of re abandonment is reduced.
At the end of the day, the important thing is that children grow up in a nurturing environment and receive all the love and care they deserve.
(Image: Video grab)
Also, read Diphtheria, a deadly infection, detected in Singapore after 25 years
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