Baby Hatch

The NGO called OrphanCARE, associated with Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, launched first ‘baby hatch’ in Malaysia for rescuing unwanted newborns, as authorities battle of increasing cases of baby dumping. Modelled on similar services in Germany, Pakistan and Japan, the NGO says the facility will allow mothers to leave their babies anonymously at its premises in Petaling Jaya, in Malaysia's central Selangor state.


The main motive of this system is to protect babies from unnecessary death and child abuse and also to reduce the number of children growing up in homes by giving them up for adoption to proper deserving families.


The hatch has a small door which opens to an incubator bed on which a mother can place her baby. Once the door is closed, an alarm bell will alert the NGO's staff to the baby's presence, after the mother has left. And also, once the door is closed, it will locked and the mother can’t take back their baby. If they changed mind and wish to get back their baby, they have to approach OrphanCARE Centre themselves and talk to the person in charge.


With the concept, “Every Child needs a family”, OrphanCARE will then find a suitable home for the baby. Parents who interested to adopt a baby can make their application to OrphanCARE by online. The organisation will have a psychologist and other experts to interview the applicants and also lawyers to handle legal matters pertaining to adoption. These prospective parents will give an assurance that there will be no legal repercussions for those who leave their babies at the hatch.


Within 3 months operation, 7 babies dropped off in this baby hatch and 6 of these babies adopted to eligible parents there were carefully selected by OrphanCARE. They planned to open more hatches around the country, but the challenge was that the system of about RM15,000 was too costly.

There pros and cons for the launching of this baby hatch. This system would give desperate mothers an alternative to abandoning or killing their babies. Besides reducing the cases of baby dumping, it help also parents who they are wishing to have a child but can’t get pregnant. It help abandoned baby to find a more suitable growth environment.

But, there are some people said that this baby hatch will encourage premarital sex. Teens will become not scare to get pregnant because it provides a place for them to dump their baby due to their illicit sex. They know that their unwanted baby can get good cares and may find a better family and a better environment by dropping them. Besides that, this baby hatch also encourage parents desert their unwanted babies. In Japan, there were cases that parents misuse this baby hatch, dropped handicap babies into it.