Don’t abandon babies – there’s help

There is enough help available for distressed women facing unwanted pregnancies in Singapore, but experts say awareness of these services needs to be drummed up to prevent cases of abandonment. A total of 14 cases of abandonment were recorded from 2006 to 2010, according to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS). Officials said women in distress resort to abandoning their babies because they see a dead end.

The Sanctuary House is among the many welfare groups in Singapore that offers a haven for abandoned babies, as well as counselling, financial aid and shelter for women in distress. Sanctuary House programme director Noel Tan said: “We have a nickname, the agency of last resort so a lot of the cases that come to us are really out of desperation. “We get, very often, cases where the mom has just delivered and they have just told the social worker that it’s in the hospital and they don’t know what to do.

“Abandonment type situations usually happen because people in those situations are extremely desperate. They have no idea where to seek assistance or even what kind of assistance to seek”. Several welfare groups in Singapore, in fact, operate hotlines and 24-hour SMS services for pregnancy-related issues. These include Babes Helpline by Beyond Social Services and the Pregnancy Crisis Service by the Family Life Society, among others.

SOURCE