The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria on Monday extended another lifeline to Baby Savers SA and the Door of Hope to in the meantime continue the use of the emergency “baby savers” – a safe box or cradle in which abandoned newborn babies are placed.

The Department of Social Development (DSD) in Gauteng’s stance is that “baby savers” are illegal and have threatened to close organisations which use these aids. These safe boxes are usually built into the outside wall of an organisation and it triggers an alarm once a baby is placed inside. This allows the baby to immediately be removed and to be taken to safety.

Baby Savers SA and the Door of Hope, together with other organisations, turned to court after the department threatened to close them down if they continued using these “baby savers”.

The main application is still pending before the court, but the organisations earlier obtained an interim ruling that they can keep using these safe boxes and stay operational, pending the outcome of the main application.

Monday was the return date for the interim ruling, but the court extended it for another year – until August next year – by agreement with the department. The court action was sparked when the department last year threatened the closure of the Door of Hope Children’s Mission and the removal of the 57 children in their care at the time, due to them operating a baby saver device.

Baby Savers SA and Door of Hope are organisations dedicated to offering desperate mothers an option for safe relinquishment of unwanted babies, as a measure to address the scourge of baby abandonment in South Africa.

The extension of the interim court order means that the department must treat the Door of Hope Children’s Mission as well as Baby Savers SA as registered Child and Youth Care Centres. It also stops the department from taking any action against them for the time, pending the outcome of the main legal battle.

This dispute comes after the DSD last year threatened the closure of the Door of Hope Children’s Mission and the removal of the 57 children who were in their care at the time, due to them operating a baby saver device. In 2023, the department issued a directive declaring all baby saver devices illegal.

According to the department, one of their main reasons for this is that by abandoning the baby, the mother is denying that child a right to their family name and culture. This reason is slammed by the applicants as a total disregard for a child’s right to life, which they say should be its first priority.

It is estimated that around 3,500 babies are abandoned annually in South Africa, most of which are abandoned in unsafe locations such as pit latrines, dumpsters, fields, and parks. For every baby found alive, two are found dead.

The organisations will argue that the stance of the department threatens the very existence of organisations that have for a long time been a safe haven for many of the forgotten and abandoned children, providing essential care and love to the most vulnerable in society.

Baby Savers SA a coalition of organisations, NPOs and PBOs that provide a safe alternative to unsafe baby abandonment through the use of a baby saver, said it believes a child’s best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning a child in accordance with the Constitution.

A baby saver does not encourage abandonment, but rather offers a safe alternative to abandonment and should only be used as a last resort. Unsafe abandonment should never be an option, it said.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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