Baby Savers SA taking Gauteng DSD to court in bid to declare parts of Children’s Act unconstitutional

JOHANNESBURG - In a bid to declare parts of the Children's Act unconstitutional, non-governmental organisation (NGO), Baby Savers South Africa, is taking the Gauteng Department of Social Development (DSD) to court.

The department issued a directive prohibiting organisations from using baby-saver devices, claiming they remove parental responsibility.

The department said Section 150 of the Act was sufficient to protect babies from abandonment.

Baby Savers South Africa claimed that global trends show that safe relinquishment laws effectively save vulnerable children.

The organisation said countries, including Germany, India and China, have adopted the method of safe relinquishment of babies, including baby saver boxes.

They said that while the government does not provide statistics for abandoned babies, the organisation has collected cases that were fortunate enough to be reported in the media.

Those cases show that more than 280 dead infants were found over the past five years.

"We have mothers who have gone to the Department of Social Development trying to relinquish their babies and have been turned away," said the co-founder of the organisation, Whitney Rosenberg.

She said that by acknowledging baby savers as a legitimate option, the risk of infant abandonment was likely to decrease.