17 babies left so far at Kumamoto baby hatch since it opened last May

Japan Today
Wednesday 21st May, 09:30 AM JST
Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/17-babies-left-so-far-at-kumamoto-baby-hatch-since-it-opened-last-may

KUMAMOTO — A total of 17 infants were left anonymously at Japan’s first ‘‘baby hatch’’ at a Kumamoto hospital between its opening on May 10 last year and March 31 this year, a city official said Tuesday. The number, disclosed officially for the first time, is one more than the 16 reported by media organizations to have been left at Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto City. It comprises 13 boys and four girls, according to the official.

One infant has been returned to the custody of a couple believed to be the parents, sources familiar with the matter said. Six of the babies were left at the hatch with notes, while none of the infants had signs of abuse or other indications that criminal acts had been committed, according to the official. The baby hatch has attracted supporters and critics among the public since opening, with some saying it will help save lives while others say it will encourage parents to abandon children.

© 2008 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

17 babies left in first year of baby drop-off in southern Japan

The Mainichi Shimbun
May 21, 2008
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080521p2a00m0na002000c.html

TOKYO (AP) -- An anonymous baby "drop box" in southern Japan received 17 babies from around the country in its first year since opening last May, reports said.

The Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto City created the "Stork's Cradle" following a series of high-profile cases in which newborns were abandoned in parks and at supermarkets.

People can leave babies in an incubator via a small hatch on the side of the hospital.

The children are cared for by the hospital, then put up for adoption or sent to a home for infants.

Of the 17 babies, there were 13 boys and four girls, Kyodo News agency said. Fourteen of the babies were infants less than one month old, two were less than a year old, and one was a preschooler.

Notes accompanied six of the babies, none of whom showed signs of abuse or neglect, according to a Kumamoto official cited by Kyodo.

It is illegal to abandon babies in Japan, but police say they do not try to find the parents of babies left at hospitals or at homes for abandoned children.

The facility in Kumamoto, 550 miles (885 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo, is the only anonymous baby drop box in Japan.

(Mainichi Japan) May 21, 2008

3 more babies left at baby drop-off in Kumamoto

The Mainichi Shimbun
March 31, 2008
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080331p2a00m0na026000c.html

TOKYO (AP) -- An anonymous baby "drop box" in southern Japan received three more babies in March, bringing the total number of children left in the shelter to 15 since its opening last May, a report said Monday.

The Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto opened the "Stork's Cradle" to discourage abortions and the abandonment of children. People can leave babies in an incubator via a small hatch on the side of the hospital.

The children are cared for by the hospital, then put up for adoption or sent to a home for infants.

A toddler was left at the facility May 10, the day it opened.

In March, the baby hatch received two boy babies and one girl baby, Kyodo News agency reported, citing unidentified officials. The hospital now has received a total of 15 children, Kyodo said.

All three babies were less than 14 days old and in good condition, but one apparently has some kind of disorder, Kyodo said without elaborating. None was left with any identifying information, the report said.

A hospital official refused to confirm the report, citing privacy.

The hospital created the drop box following a series of high-profile cases in which newborns were abandoned in parks and at supermarkets, triggering a public outcry and government warnings.

It is illegal to abandon babies in Japan, which is why people do it anonymously. However, police say they do not try to find the parents of babies left at hospitals or at homes for abandoned children.

(Mainichi Japan) March 31, 2008

3 infants left at Kumamoto baby hatch in March, bringing total to 15

Japan Today
Monday 31st March, 03:25 PM JST
Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/3-infants-left-at-kumamoto-baby-hatch-in-march-bringing-total-to-15

KUMAMOTO — Japan’s first baby hatch at a Kumamoto hospital where parents can anonymously leave newborns received two male babies and one female baby in March, sources close to the matter said Monday. Including the three, Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto City has received a total of 15 babies since its launch last May.

According to the sources, all three babies were less than 14 days old. One of them seems to have some kind of disorder. None were left with any information which could identify them, the sources said. The hospital set up the hatch in May in order to save babies whom the parents cannot or do not want to raise, with endorsement from the city government.

© 2008 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.

Help line besieged at baby-hatch hospital

Noriko Sakakibara / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
The Yomiuri Shimbun
September 7, 2007
Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070907TDY03001.htm

Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto, which has been making headlines for the baby hatch it set up in May, also has been flooded with phone calls from people seeking help with unwanted pregnancies.

The hospital started the telephone counseling service prior to opening the baby hatch, into which parents can deposit babies they feel unable to raise.

Many of those seeking help were youths and unmarried people facing unwanted pregnancies. Since late last year, the hospital has received more than 400 such calls.

About 70 percent of the calls were from outside Kumamoto Prefecture, indicating that facilities for such consultations are lacking nationwide.

Sources close to the baby-hatch operation say that seven babies or toddlers have so far been deposited there, though the hospital has not released any official figures to protect privacy. One of the seven children was later returned to the parents.

The baby hatch has caused a nationwide sensation, with some criticizing it as encouraging the abandonment of babies. But the hospital has met with an equally dramatic response to its counseling program, which has had staffers working around the clock to meet demand.

The hospital started operating the 24-hour telephone counseling service in December, partly to help minimize the number of parents who have to resort to using the baby hatch.

In one of the calls, a panicked woman whose contractions had begun sought help saying: "I'm in labor. Help me!" The caller was a high school girl who called just before her delivery, and who had not even told her parents of her pregnancy.

A hospital official replied: "You're right to call us. Wait for me and I'll come over right away." The official rushed to the site by car and brought the girl and her newborn baby to the hospital.

When the official called the girl's home to notify her parents, they refused to believe what they were told, saying they had not noticed any physical change in their daughter.

Yukiko Tajiri, chief nurse at the hospital, said: "There have been three similar cases so far. When we can't get to where the caller is, we contact someone who can."

The fame of the baby hatch seems to be one reason why the hospital receives so many calls on such serious matters. The help-seekers often say they cannot tell their parents of their pregnancies, or have gone to full-term merely because they were unable to find the money for an abortion. One caller said her fiance had disappeared, leaving her with no money to deliver or raise her baby.

The flood of calls indicates that many young people do not have any support network they can turn to for help and advice with such problems. A source at the hospital said, "Many of them called in the expectation that this hospital would be able to help them."

The hospital had received more than 400 such calls by the end of August. Calls came from as far afield as Hokkaido and Okinawa Prefecture.

The source said the hospital had handed nearly 10 babies to foster parents under a special adoption system after confirming the parents' identities and ascertaining that there were good reasons why they could not raise the children.

In addition to the Jikei Hospital phone service, and coinciding with the opening of the baby hatch, the Kumamoto city government also launched its own around-the-clock telephone pregnancy counseling service--the first such service by a municipal government anywhere in the nation.

The service received 301 calls in the first three months. About 80 percent of the callers sought help with unwanted pregnancies or difficulties in raising children.

A city government official in charge of the counseling said, "We hadn't expected such a large number of calls. Bodies that offer this kind of service are in short supply across the nation."

For women worried about pregnancy and childbirth, prefectural child consultation centers and those in major cities, municipal health care centers and municipal centers for women's health offer consultation services. But the existence of the facilities is not necessarily well known.

In Germany, for example, there are public centers offering help with pregnancy-related problems. In Japan, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry says there are only a few public bodies that can offer women help with unwanted pregnancies.

A ministry official said: "There are four facilities operated by the central government that offer free consultation. But there is no aid for people who can't afford delivery costs, or direct assistance to mothers and babies."

Many of the callers to Jikei Hospital also said they had found a lack of organizations from which they could seek help.

One of the callers said: "I went to a child welfare center for consultation, but all they could say was 'You must raise the baby. What other choice is there?'" Another said, "In one public office, they just passed me from one section to another, and I ended up getting no help at all."

In August, the Kumamoto prefectural and city governments decided to set up a committee to look into the operation of the baby hatch and the counseling line.

A city government official said: "We've had calls from people all over the nation who found out about the service on the Internet. We want the central government to see that this isn't just a problem for Kumamoto Prefecture."

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Teen sex problem

In recent years, there have been cases of minors killing or abandoning their newborn babies as a result of unwanted pregnancies.

This is thought to be connected to the ever-younger age at which people have sexual intercourse for the first time, and the increasing number of pregnancies among unmarried women.

The percentage of high school girls between ages 16 and 19 who are sexually experienced has been rising sharply over the past 20 years, hitting 28.3 percent in fiscal 2006, according to ministry figures. Other data show that 1.7 percent of 19-year-old women have had an abortion.

An expert panel at the ministry that examined child abuse cases reported in June that 25 percent of all children under 3 who were killed by their parents were born as a result of an unwanted pregnancies.

(Sep. 7, 2007)