Don't Want Your Baby? No Prob. Put it In the Baby Bin!

Galina Murzakayeva organization "Cradle of Hope" opened Russia's tenth "baby box" in the town Kirishi this week. Inside the box is a letter that read, "A letter to the parents."

Photo: Dmitry Lovetsky / AP

So-called "baby boxes" where people can hand over babies they can not care for, has been harshly criticized by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Now the phenomenon has spread to Russia.

Leader of the "Cradle of Hope", Yelena Kotova, showing a baby that was left in a "baby box" in Perm, Russia.

Photo: Dmitry Lovetsky / AP

This week opened organization "Cradle of Hope" their tenth baby box at a hospital in the town of Kirishi in Russia, according to AP.

The boxes make it possible for disadvantaged parents to deliver an unwanted infant anonymously, without risking criminal prosecution.

As soon as someone leaves a baby in the box and close the door, alerted a nurse.

The organization hopes that the boxes can help to save lives, and that they can increase awareness of issues related to disadvantaged mothers.


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In the period 2010-2011 Russian police registered 268 deaths of newborn babies, and it pops up regularly cases of babies being found in garbage cans, grove and snow pile.

- Even if just one child is saved in this way, it will be worth it, says Tatiana Sobolevskya as head maternity ward at the hospital where the new box is located.

But baby box-practice is not entirely uncontroversial.

There are already several such boxes in European countries, and in June this year the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child with a concern over the phenomenon.

- This is not a solution. It is just a measure that violates children's rights. Baby box does not protect children, said one of the committee members, Maria Herzog.

- No universal cure

The Committee believes that the boxes go against children's rights convention, which clearly states that children have the right to know who their parents are.

In addition, the committee that there is no scientific evidence that baby boxes actually saves lives.

Since the year 2000 to over 400 children have been left in such boxes in Europe, according to The Guardian .

The organization behind the new baby boxes in Russia, has taken the idea from Europe. They do not agree with the criticism that has come there.

- Baby box is no universal cure. There is a way to draw attention to the problem and help women, says Galina Murzakayeva, who coordinates the project in the city Kirirshi.

Don't Want Yourbaby--put is in a Baby Box