History of Europe

First baby hatch in Hamburg - rescue for many newborns

On April 8, 2000, Germany's first baby hatch opened in Hamburg, where parents can leave their child anonymously. A controversial project. There are now around 100 of these institutions.

It is an attempt to offer parents who are overwhelmed or unintentionally pregnant women a perspective - without abortion and without exposing the newborn to the risk of neglect or abuse. And the idea caught on:on April 8, 2000, the first so-called baby hatch in Germany was opened with a facility set up by the Sternipark association in Hamburg. Since then, mothers and fathers have been able to hand in their children here without being recognized. The decisive factor for the project was the discovery of a dead newborn in a Hamburg recycling plant in December 1999.

Anonymous baby hatch:"It's about saving lives"

In the meantime, 56 infants have been handed over to the anonymous "baby basket" of the youth welfare organization Sternipark - there are around 100 of these facilities nationwide today. While seven children were placed there in the first year of the Hamburg baby hatch, the number has now been significantly reduced to around one infant per year. Leila Moysich, Managing Director of Sternipark Hamburg, attributes this development to the increased number of baby hatches. In addition, the living conditions for mothers have improved through parental leave and more daycare places. She is still firmly convinced of the value of the project:"It's about saving lives. If just one woman finds her way to us instead of abandoning her child, then our work has already paid off."

Project triggers social and legal debate

The first baby hatch in Hamburg-Altona triggered discussions. The fear:Parents could "get rid of" their children too easily.

The inauguration of the first baby hatch caused heated discussions in the early 1990s. Supporters see the rescue of the children in the foreground. Opponents criticized that mothers could "get rid of" their children too easily - and cite, among other things, exactly the arguments that advocates of the baby hatch also use, but interpret them in favor of the mother:Putting a child in the hatch moves in a legal gray area . However, the process is not punishable because it is classified as a "submission to care", which means that the criminal offense of abandoning a child is explicitly not present.

Caring for the infant secured without punishment

The Sternipark association now has three flaps:on Goethestrasse in Hamburg-Altona, on Schönenfelder Strasse in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg and another one in Satrupholm in Schleswig-Holstein. As in the other 100 or so baby shelters in Germany, mothers have the opportunity there to hand in their children anonymously and free of punishment. As soon as the flap opens and a baby is placed in the warming bed behind it, an alarm is triggered in a clinic or at a midwife - within a few minutes, helpers and, if necessary, doctors are on site to take care of the baby.

You can go back eight weeks

After that, foster families are available until either adoptive parents are found or the biological parents get in touch. For eight weeks, mother or father have the opportunity to bring their child back. According to Sternipark, 16 children have returned to their families of origin in Hamburg over the past 20 years.

From the baby hatch to the offer of help for pregnant women in need

The Findelbaby project of the Sternipark association also includes other building blocks:Pregnant women and young mothers can be advised on a free telephone number, further offers of help are made available and, if necessary, the anonymous adoption of a baby can be arranged.

Anonymous birth possible since May 2014

Women who decide to give birth anonymously in a hospital can also find advice and, if necessary, a place to live and care for the children from foster parents. In this way, the mothers should be given as much time as possible to decide whether they want to live with their child after all.

The possibility of a so-called confidential birth has been anchored in law since May 2014. Despite the success of baby hatches, for example, the deaths of neglected children and abandoned babies have repeatedly put politicians under pressure - and ultimately led to a change in the legal framework for pregnant women in need. According to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, the underlying law is intended to "avoid secret births outside of medical facilities (...) and at the same time (...) prevent newborns from being anonymously handed over, abandoned or killed". The biological mother is guaranteed 16 years of anonymity. After this time, children have the opportunity to find out where they come from.