China Baby hatch suspended- 262 abandoned since January

China introduced baby hatches in January where parents can leave an infant instead of in the streets.
"A baby hatch in southern China has been forced to suspend work after hundreds of infants were abandoned, overwhelming the centre, its director says.

More than 260 children had been left at the welfare home in Guangzhou since 28 January, director Xu Jiu added."
All the abandoned infants had illnesses, such as cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome and congenital heart disease, the bureau added.

It is thought that many parents abandon ill babies because they fear they cannot afford the medical care required.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26607505

At my daughter's orphanage in China, there were over 400 kids, most of whom were toddlers and older. Every one of them had disabilities, and the overwhelming majority were boys. My daughter was the only girl in her class of 12.

There are tremendous social issues that lead to infant abandonment in China. There is essentially no foster care system, and no way to legally relinquish a child for adoption. Coupled with the decades long "single child" policies, lack of social support for families with disabled children, widespread poverty, and other social pressures, and it is easy to see why abandonment is often the only choice available to women who aren't in a position to parent. There are also cultural preferences for boys, and "damaged" boys are a kind of quiet shame. There are also superstitions that the mother did something "wrong" to create a disabled child. Lots and lots and lots of social pressures.

More about Foundling Wheels, or Baby Hatches:

Baby hatch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

K_Z said:

At my daughter's orphanage in China, there were over 400 kids, most of whom were toddlers and older. Every one of them had disabilities, and the overwhelming majority were boys. My daughter was the only girl in her class of 12.

There are tremendous social issues that lead to infant abandonment in China. There is essentially no foster care system, and no way to legally relinquish a child for adoption. Coupled with the decades long "single child" policies, lack of social support for families with disabled children, widespread poverty, and other social pressures, and it is easy to see why abandonment is often the only choice available to women who aren't in a position to parent. There are also cultural preferences for boys, and "damaged" boys are a kind of quiet shame. There are also superstitions that the mother did something "wrong" to create a disabled child. Lots and lots and lots of social pressures.

More about Foundling Wheels, or Baby Hatches:

Baby hatch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Click to expand...

The thanks button was not enough.

Our church has many adoptive families - children from China, Myanmar, Korea, Ukraine, Russia, Guatemala, and Mexico have all found a home here in Indiana. As have children adopted in-state. Were the cost not so prohibitive, there would be even more.

K_Z - thank you for your perspective. As a nurse who cares for these 'damaged' children every day, can I say how tragic it is that there is not a way for these children to be loved and cared for by their own parents? What kind of culture is it where these children cannot be recognized as gifts from God?

My daughter and her husband are undergoing (so-far unsuccessful) fertility procedures. I would be thrilled and honored to grandmother one or more of these little ones.

It sounds like they closed it because it was too successful.
I wonder where these sick infants will end up now.
Hopefully not in a landfill.

jjenny said:

It sounds like they closed it because it was too successful.
I wonder where these sick infants will end up now.
Hopefully not in a landfill.

Click to expand...

"Anyone leaving a child at the Guangzhou safe haven will now be reported to police, the city statement said."

Well, that is scary. Unfortunately jJenny, you may be right.

http://news.yahoo.com/five-babies-day-left-chinese-citys-baby-hatch-055330333.html

A bit of interesting info. This safe haven is (well, was) in Guangzhou, China-- a stone's throw from Hong Kong, and the location that every single American/ Chinese adoption is processed. There is an entire "industry sub-city" in Guangzhou devoted to attending to the needs of American and international families adopting Chinese children. (There are many whimsical statutes in Guangzhou, and one is of a very fat Caucasian woman playing with an Asian toddler!)

I just think it's a bit ironic that this particular Baby Hatch is in Guangzhou-- the processing exit site of every single American/ Chinese adoption.

http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/adoption.html

U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou’s adoptions unit issues all immigrant visas to adopted orphans from mainland China. Adoptions from China currently account for more than one third of all international adoptions to the United States, making Guangzhou’s Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU) one of the largest adoption units in the world. Since international adoptions began in China, our adoptions unit has issued over 70,000 immigrant visas to Chinese orphans adopted by American citizens.

Click to expand...

As South China has historically been the home for most Chinese immigrants to America, Guangzhou was designated as the sole immigrant visa processing post for all of China in the early 1980s. Additionally, in 1992 all adoption processing was assigned to Guangzhou. Immigrant and non-immigrant visa numbers have risen in the past 30 years. Whereas in 1979 the Consulate processed about 27,000 visa applicants (both non-immigrant and immigrant visas), today it adjudicates annually more than 200,000 applicants. In order to better accommodate the rising number of applicants, on August 6, 2005, the Consular Section moved to a more spacious office facility at the Tianyu Garden Building on Lin He Zhong Road in Guangzhou’s Tianhe District. The facility has 30 interviewing windows available for 23 American staff and 100 locally-employed personnel.

Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consulate_General_of_the_United_States,_Guangzhou

Many adoptive families stay at this hotel, where it has become "adoption custom" to have family pictures taken on the "red sofas" in the lobby and waterfall areas. It's undergoing a major renovation.

http://www.whiteswanhotel.com/index.php?Locale=en-us

http://articles.philly.com/2011-04-28/news/29483324_1_adoptions-white-swan-hotel-red-thread

Famous Red Couch Photo White Swan Hotel | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

http://thedresdenfiles.typepad.com/the-dresden-files/2010/05/red-couchwhite-swan.html

Only available at the White Swan-- adoption Barbie.

http://www.momlogic.com/2010/09/chinese_adoption_barbie.php

Going for $300+ on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=adoption+barbie

(And yes, we did the red sofa pics, but did not buy Adoption Barbie!)

New article with photos. Heartbreaking.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ments-parents-say-goodbye-sons-daughters.html

"GUANGZHOU, China - The Chinese government said this week that a program to care for abandoned babies has been overwhelmed and as a result many infants are dying."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-look-at-chinas-baby-hatches-for-unwanted-infants/

Yoda said:

"GUANGZHOU, China - The Chinese government said this week that a program to care for abandoned babies has been overwhelmed and as a result many infants are dying."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-look-at-chinas-baby-hatches-for-unwanted-infants/

Click to expand...

heartbreaking........