Authorities will not return child to babybox mother yet

A young mother who is attempting to regain the baby daughter she left in a “babybox” in January will not yet have the child returned to her, authorities in the woman’s town of Havířov said on Friday. The case was highly publicised as the first of its kind in the country and the return of the child has been complicated by the fact that the baby was found to have previously suffered a broken arm, a fact that the police are currently investigating. Whether Barbora is returned to her single mother will hinge on the results of that case and on an expert determination the woman’s parenting skills. The mother is herself currently in the care of her boyfriend’s mother and was found to be lacking a suitable home environment for the child.

15 babies have been left in “babyboxes” since the system was introduced in the Czech Republic in 2005. The hatches are intended as a way for parents in dire straits to anonymously and legally relinquish a small child to foster care.