Abandoned in a plastic bag in a Johannesburg dumpster at just three days old. Left in a Cape Town public restroom, only hours old. Discarded in a Durban trash can, still attached to her umbilical cord. These are just some of the heartbreaking stories of dumped and abandoned babies in South Africa, with many more going unreported.
According to the director at Door of Hope, Nadene Grabham from Johannesburg, thousands of babies are abandoned or dumped in South Africa annually.
“Unfortunately, there are no formal statistics in South Africa, but research has shown that around 3 500 babies are abandoned annually, and for every baby found alive, two are found dead.”
Nadene Grabham
She says many factors – including poverty, rape, failed illegal abortions, lack of support from family and father of the child, judgement, or lack of assistance from for example nurses, police, social workers, and community members – can lead to women choosing to dump their babies rather than opting for other options.
‘I was abandoned’
The founder of Miracle Kidz, Elsie du Plessis, shares that she was abandoned as a baby and grew up as a foster child in foster care. Du Plessis used her own experience of growing up without a family to open a safe house called Miracle in 2000, which has since become a beacon of hope for vulnerable, abandoned, and abused children in the Western Cape.
“It has always been my dream to open a safe house since I was a young girl. My biological mother gave me away as a baby, so I grew up as a foster child and have never been adopted,” she says.
“I lack a sense of belonging. I was always the different one, so I wanted to change the world for the kids who don’t grow up with their biological parents. Open a place and be a mommy to these kids, make them feel at home, and give them my name or surname for the time they are with me – just to give them that sense of belonging.”
Ramona van den Heever, the founder of the Door of Care and Safety in Randfontein, an organisation that helps dumped babies, highlights that there are many desperate women and young girls out there who think dumping their children is the only solution.
“I started the organisation eight years ago when someone informed me that a baby was found in a refuse bag. I made it my mission to find out what happened to the baby. The baby got placed with me through the social workers, and that’s what inspired me to open my baby box,” says Van der Heever.
Young women need help
“We have society shaming and labelling women without understanding their desperate cry for help. Safe homes and baby boxes are there to help, to save a life, and to offer hope to the hopeless.
“We will never understand the desperation the woman or young girl is feeling, but we would like to create a safe space without judgement where we could be a helping hand in the most difficult time in their lives.”
Ramona van den Heever
Grabham said Door of Hope South Africa was the first organisation in the world to install the modern-day baby saver and has assisted and guided other organisations to install baby savers or open baby homes.
“The baby-saver idea that started in South Africa has spread across the world. The difference is that in South Africa, these devices are not legally recognised, so in March 2021, Whitney and I decided to establish Baby Savers SA to support, guide, and advise organisations in South Africa who have baby savers or want to install baby savers,” she says.
“Our aim is to have baby savers recognised as a lifesaving device, a safe alternative to unsafe baby abandonment to be used as a last resort if all other options have failed.”
ALSO READ: Break the silence: The trauma and heartache of abortions
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