Germany Fights Infanticide Surge With Safe Haven Baby Drops

March 27, 2007 — -- An apparent surge of infanticide across Germany has prompted some city councils to promote so-called baby-klappe, or baby-drop, centers. The reports are also spurring others to question if enough is being done about the problem.

First installed at a hospital in the northern city of Hamburg in the year 2000, the baby klappe allows women to anonymously drop off their unwanted babies to be found and cared for by hospital staff. There are now some 90 baby drop-offs across the country -- typically installed in an outside wall of a hospital, not unlike a hamburger pickup window. Some of the structures are equipped with a heated cradle and life-saving instruments, including a respirator.

The mother can leave without being seen. The moment the child is dropped off, an alarm sounds and hospital staff immediately tend to the baby's needs.

Still, recent news reports suggest that some mothers aren't getting the word. Hardly a week goes by without such headlines as "Dead Baby Found in Trash Can," "Mother Kills Infant, Baby Body Dumped on Wasteland" or even "Dead Infant Found in Freezer." Six dead babies have been found in the last two weeks alone.

A 26-year-old Hamburg woman was arrested on suspicion of killing her infant after she had given birth in her flat. The woman is alleged to have wrapped the baby in a plastic shopping bag and threw him out of a 10-story apartment building. A neighbor's dog found the bag and scratched it open.

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Another woman was arrested in the northern German city of Kiel 10 days ago after police found two dead babies in her freezer. One was a stillborn a year ago; the other was a recent live birth, authorities said.

Only a week ago, a 27-year-old woman surrendered to police in a small town in eastern Germany after her newborn child was found in a blue plastic rubbish bag trapped in the reeds of a lake.

This week a 20-year-old woman in Bavaria was accused of beating her newborn baby to death minutes after she had given birth. The woman is said to have killed her baby to hide the pregnancy from her partner.