A big issue in Switzerland is the cultural value of new born unwanted babies. Switzerland has eight baby hatches. A baby hatch is a safe place where people, usually mothers can anonymously leave their unwanted babies to be cared for by others. A mother has twelve months to reclaim their baby before it is put up for adoption. This is a big issue because it is controversial. Do we know if the baby is really unwanted by the mother if the father is abandoning the baby at the hatch? Is the mother consenting? Is she safe, healthy and alive? Could another family member bring the baby up? Does the father know what has happened to his child? It is really needed if only sixteen children have been left at the facility since it opened in 2001. Does it reduce infanticide? What about the rights of the child being able to know who its parents are.
Australian authorities considered “baby hatches’, after the case of baby Lily Grace, found buried in sand dunes at Sydney’s Maroubra Beach in 2014. To date, Australia does not have a Baby Hatch .
The biggest issue is the life of the baby. The baby needs a loving lifetime family and if this system makes it possible then I am all for the concept being introduced into Australia.