Kempton’s NGOs campaign against dumping of babies
Child Welfare, Life Link, FAMSA as well as Kempton SAPS embarked on a door-to-door campaign
KEMPTON’S NGOs came together to embark on a door-to-door campaign to end the dumping of babies in Kempton Park.
This campaign comes after a number of new-born babies were found dead after being dumped in open velds and rubbish dumps around Kempton.
As a result Child Welfare Kempton Park, Life Link Pregnancy Crisis Centre, FAMSA as well as Kempton SAPS came together on Wednesday in order to spread awareness and educate the Kempton community about the alternatives to abandonment.
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The community was made aware of the fact that there are alternative measures that can be taken instead of dumping babies and leaving them to die. Women who have unplanned pregnancies and find themselves in a crisis can approach NGOs such as Life Link Pregnancy Crisis Centre, FAMSA or even child welfare.
“We want the community to know that they don’t have to abandon their babies. We can offer them services such as counselling and HIV testing and we also have a support programme for single mothers,” Life Link founder and director, Sharon Rushton, explained.
Information pamphlets were handed out to households on Maxwell Street, North Rand Road, Kempton Road as well as Kerk Street.
“If women have certain family problems or come from unstable family backgrounds, which lead to them wanting to dump their babies, they can come to us,” FAMSA (Families South Africa) senior social worker Makha Thusi said.
“Child and baby abandonment is usually the surface of the problem. The real issues which need to be investigated are below the surface. Factors such as the kind of family structure a person was born into and raised under can eventually affect a person’s decision to keep or abandon their baby,” Thusi added.
Kempton Park SAPS spokesperson, Capt Jethro Mtshali, said cases such as concealment of birth are a headache for the police as they are extremely difficult to solve.
“With such cases, the mothers of the babies or the people responsible for the dumping of the newborn are hardly ever found, making the cases impossible to solve. Therefore we appeal to the community to stop dumping babies and instead approach organisations such as Child Welfare for help.”
