MALAYSIA will soon start the  "baby hatch" system after several countries in the world, namely Germany, Japan and Pakistan adopted it. The system that first started in Germany in the 1950s was identified as a way to support single mothers who cannot raise their children on their own. OrphanCare, a non-govermental organnisation based in Petaling Jaya, will launch the system, with the motto "Every child needs a family", next month.It's the first organisation in the country to launch the "baby hatch" system after getting the greenlight from the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and the Welfare Department recently. It is president, Adnan Mohd Tahir, said the organisation had come up with the idea several years ago. However, the idea was not well received by many who assumed that it encouraged pre-marital sex.

"However, we managed to convince the authorities that such a system would reduce the number of babies being abandoned. We also assured them that the babies will be adopted by families instead of them growing up in a shelter home or an orphanage. Our proposal was studied and finally approved," he said.

The "baby hatch" centre by OrphanCare, which will be based in PJ, will be the administration and transit centre for the babies before they are given out for adoption.

It will accept babies and children  that are abandoned by single mothers or parents and will be kept in the centre for a maximum of three months before a suitable family is found for adoption.

The organisation has a data base of 30 parents who are interested to adopt a child. Others interested in adopting a child may do so by submitting their online application at www.orphancare.org.my.

Adnan said the organisation will have a psychologist and other experts to interview the applicants and also lawyers to handle legal matters pertaining to adoption.

"If an unwanted child is sent to the centre by their  own parents with a valid reason, they will be given a letter from the Commissioner of Oaths to sign and will also be asked to surrender the child's documents, such as the birth certificate.

"Since we already have a list of applicants, we will help to get the children in existing government shelter homes and orphanages to be adopted."

Adnan said the public has to change their attitude towards orphans by recognising that children should not be left permanently in orphanages.

"It should be a transit point before orphans are placed with families who can bring them up in a proper family structure."

The main motive of this system is to protect babies from unnecessary death and child abuse and also to reduce the number of children growing up in homes by giving them up for adoption to proper deserving families.

A police statistics last year found that in every 10 days a baby was abandoned in the Klang Valley and about 100 babies were abandoned every year in Malaysia.

A lesson from mediaeval times

A “BABY hatch” is a place where an unwanted child might be left anonymously by parents.

Hatches in Germany and Japan are usually in hospitals or social welfare centres and consists of a door or flap in an outside wall which opens to reveal a soft bed, heated or at least insulated. Sensors in the bed alert care-givers who come and take away the abandoned babies.

This arrangement was common in mediaeval times and in the 18th and 19th centuries the device was known as a foundling wheel.

Foundling wheels were taken out of use in the late 1800s but a modern form, the “baby hatch”, was introduced in 1952. Since 2000, it has come into use in many countries, notably in Germany followed by Japan and Pakistan.

All countries that started the system had disputes for and against the system. Some countries decided not to use the system as it encourages parents to desert their babies.

There are more than 80 baby hatches in Germany. Sixty per cent of the users return to take back their babies after having second thoughts.

Japan started the system in 2007, but faced problems as some parents abandoned their handicap babies there.

In Germany, babies are taken care of for eight weeks during which the mother can return and claim her child without any legal repercussions. If this does not happen, then the child is put up for adoption.