The discovery of a newborn girl in a Sydney back yard has prompted renewed calls for safe, anonymous drop-off zones to allow parents to give up unwanted infants without risk to the baby.
The baby, believed to be days old, was found in a family’s back yard on Friday in the western Sydney suburb of Blacktown. The child is in good health and is now in the care of New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice.
Police are urging the mother, whose identity is unknown, to come forward amid fears for her welfare.
Abandoning a child is illegal in Australia, but NSW police have stressed that the mother is not in trouble. Police believe the baby, who will be placed in state care once she is discharged from hospital, was not born at a hospital.
“Childbirth can be quite traumatic and we’re worried for her safety and wellbeing, both physically and mentally. We’re trying to help her,” acting inspector David McInerney from Blacktown police told reporters on Saturday.
“It’s very concerning, but she’s not in any trouble from police. I want to stress that.”
The location where the baby was left is believed to be “completely random” and had no connection to the mother, a police spokesperson told AAP.
The case has reignited calls for legal changes around unwanted babies, with Tasmanian Labor senator Helen Polley saying there was a need for Australia to catch up with other parts of the world.
For 15 years, Polley has been calling for state governments to introduce “baby safe haven” laws, allowing parents to give up babies at hospitals or police stations without fear of criminal prosecution.
Similar laws and ways for parents to give up an unwanted baby anonymously have been in place for years in Canada and parts of the US and Europe. Across the US police stations and hospitals have ‘baby boxes’ that are temperature controlled and alert the workers when the box is opened.
In Australia parents can relinquish care of their children through social services. But Polley said another option is needed for people who are desperate or vulnerable.
“We would all much prefer that women were able to keep their own babies and get the support that they need to do that, but that’s not always what happens,” she said.
“If it would save even one baby’s life, then it’s well worthwhile.”
In 2014, the NSW government said it was looking into establishing safe drop boxes for unwanted children after two newborns were found abandoned within one week.
In a report two years later into one of the newborns, who was found buried in the sand dunes at Maroubra beach, a NSW coroner also recommended the state introduce safe haven laws and safe drop-off zones.
Prof Amy Conley Wright, an expert in child and family social work at the University of Sydney, said it was a huge issue that no states in Australia had yet introduced safe-haven laws and safe drop-off zones.
“When people have a pregnancy that is unwanted, they may be in desperate circumstances and not realise the support available to them and they might do something terrible,” Wright said.
“We need to give mothers more options.”
In other countries where this is put in place, Wright said children are placed into state care and a foster care or adoptive home is found.
– Additional reporting from AAP
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org
