A woman who left her infant son in a baby hatch – which can be used to safely and anonymously abandon babies – is now fighting in court to get him back.
On Easter Monday, the boy was discovered in a “window of life” – the term used in Poland for baby hatches – run by the Ursulines, a Catholic women’s religious order, in the city of Łódź, reports Polsat. The boy had no documents with him, but staff estimated him to be between five and ten months old.
He was subsequently baptised, named Antoni and, following a check-up in hospital, placed in foster care. The police were also notified about the discovery.
The Archdiocese Adoption Centre in Łódź then issued a media appeal to find out more information about the child’s health so that he could be properly treated. It also emphasised that if his parents needed help or wanted to change their decision, they could get in touch anonymously.
A woman claiming to be the boy’s mother phoned the following day, saying she regretted giving up the child and could not “live without him”. Her identity was then confirmed during a visit.
The mother’s decision had been mainly caused by a “lack of support from her partner and loved ones”, Magdalena Lesiak from the adoption centre told Fakt. “There were also housing and financial problems – it seemed to her that there was no other way out.”
The centre has expressed its intent to help the mother regain custody. The case will, however, go to a family court, which will assess the mother’s financial situation and whether it is safe for the child to return to her care.
The boy is the fifth child in the last six months to be found in the baby hatch in Łódź. When the hatch is opened, a bell automatically rings and the nuns receive text messages to alert them to the presence of a child. Parents have six weeks to change their minds about the decision, but most do not return for the children, reports Polsat.
There are nearly 70 such “windows of life” in Poland, which have received a total of over 100 children in the last decade. Similar schemes are also in place in other countries, including Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria, with baby hatches established outside hospitals or religious centres.
The practice is often backed by the pro-life lobby, according to the Guardian, although the idea is popular across social groups. However, baby hatches can be legally problematic, and child abandonment is banned in some countries, including the UK.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child warns that such schemes contravene “the right of the child to be known and cared for by his or her parents”, and that there is no evidence baby hatches prevent infanticide.
A volunteer animal shelter in the Polish city of Lublin last year opened Poland’s first “window of life” for unwanted small pets.
Main image credit: BARTOSZ BOBKOWSKI / AGENCJA GAZETA
Juliette Bretan is a freelance journalist covering Polish and Eastern European current affairs and culture. Her work has featured on the BBC World Service, and in CityMetric, The Independent, Ozy, New Eastern Europe and Culture.pl.
