Law change call over 'dumped babies'

Abandoned babies are adopted if parents do not come forward

New research has led an expert to call for women who abandon babies not to be prosecuted.

Professor Audrey Mullender believes women who cannot cope with motherhood are too scared to seek help.

But police are not allowed to offer an amnesty to such mothers as abandoning a child under two is an offence carrying a penalty of up to six months in prison.

Professor Mullender, from Warwick University, is concerned many women are being wrongly stigmatised.

Using police files and interviews with professionals in the field, she believes there are about 12 new-born and young babies abandoned every year in England and Wales and very few conform to the stereotypical "gym slip" mum.

Professor Mullender said: "The authorities have a very antiquated law which doesn't meet anybody's needs and is failing women and their babies.

"It is victim blaming. The women are often desperate and conscious of what they should be doing.

"It doesn't help at all if she is scared to come forward."

Cribs that alert nurses to dumped babies are used in India

Professor Mullender said that if abandonment was no longer an offence it would make way for systems where women could drop off their babies in safe places while remaining anonymous.

There are baby banks in Germany and the Baby X method in France where women are allowed to give birth in hospital with complete anonymity.

Prof Mullender admits neither system provides well for the future of the child.

Felicity Collier, chief executive of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, said: "There are significant issues relating to post-natal depression, isolation and panic and mental health issues.

"We would certainly want that looked at before bringing criminal proceedings.

"But people don't easily drag a person who has abandoned their infant through the courts.

What keeps me in the past is not knowing where my brother is or knowing him, I will never forgive her (my mother) for that Doreen Rutherford

"If we have a place made to leave babies, will it encourage people to leave babies and not leave information they need to come to terms with their past and future?"

Doreen Rutherford was abandoned with her baby brother in a caravan when she was about six.

They were discovered two days later but she was separated from her brother and placed in an orphanage until she was later adopted.

Now 65 and living with her husband in Worcestershire, she said not all mothers who abandon their children are without blame.

"I don't think she (my mother) cared," she said. "I have always been very insecure and grew up not trusting people.

"What keeps me in the past is not knowing where my brother is or knowing him, I will never forgive her (my mother) for that."

It all depends on the circumstances of each case, you can't decriminalise with a broad brush stroke DI Adrian Todd

She said that while not in favour of legalisation she welcomed an anonymous scheme which women could use for advice or to give details of an abandoned child.

Detective Inspector Adrian Todd, who is investigating the case of baby Isobel, abandoned in toilets at the Rowland Hill Shopping Centre in Kidderminster in October, said they had tried to make their appeals as sensitive as possible.

"We were very careful in our press release because it was quite apparent she had been abandoned there to be found at an early stage."

But he added: "It all depends on the circumstances of each case, you can't decriminalise with a broad brush stroke.

"For example, if it is a professional person working in child care, or other people are involved, if there are other dependents or if the child dies as a result."

However, he said that if anonymous systems in other countries had proved successful they should be considered here.

"Police would become involved in some shape or form and it would just be a question of who would be the lead agency looking at it," he said.