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Fourth newborn in the baby window of Bethesda Basel
On September 21, 2023, at 11:07 a.m., another healthy newborn was placed in the baby window at Bethesda Hospital in Basel. The little boy had been born a few hours earlier and is perfectly healthy. He is in competent hands in the maternity clinic at Bethesda Hospital. The Child and Adult Protection Authority Basel-Stadt was informed immediately. All the institutions involved in the baby window attach great importance to maintaining the privacy of the baby and the mother.
The baby window enables mothers in extreme emergency situations to anonymously hand over their child to safe medical care. This is intended to prevent child abandonment and infanticide, which have occurred time and again in the past. The baby window in Basel was set up by the Bethesda Hospital and the charitable foundation Swiss Aid for Mother and Child (SAMC-Foundation.ch).
The mother and father of the child have the right to reclaim the child until the adoption is completed. The child is returned to the mother or father, if the motherhood or fatherhood could be established beyond doubt and the conditions for the admission of the child are met. Adoption is only possible after one year of care and upbringing by adoptive parents. So far, 29 babies have been placed in baby windows in Switzerland.