The society seeks to solve the problem of foundlings for many centuries. Unfortunately, an unwanted child is a timeless phenomenon, mothers left their children both in the dark era of the Middle Ages, and in the age of Enlightenment and Rationalism. Neither the threat of prison sentences, nor public censure did not stop the distraught women who were striving by any means to get rid of the born, but unnecessary, child. Nowadays, social propaganda, the exhortations of doctors in maternity hospitals and the efforts of public organizations are aimed at persuading a woman and supporting her decision not to abandon her child. But not always exhortations and timely support are possible, and then baby boxing becomes the only way out. Sometimes, all that society can do for abandoned babies is to create conditions for their mothers to anonymously and conveniently abandon their newborn. Indeed, often the inability to throw a baby secretly and with impunity costs him his life.
The likeness of modern "baby boxes" first appeared in Europe at the end of the 12th century - the first nest for an abandoned baby was created in Italy. The responsibility for the creation of such a point was assumed by the Catholic Church. At the beginning of the 18th century, in Germany, a window for small foundlings appeared right in the wall of the shelter, and 150 years later, in France, there were numerous reception departments where mothers could surrender their child anonymously. However, as in our times, the reaction of the authorities to such measures was not only ambiguous, but often negative. The windows were periodically closed.
Despite the fact that baby boxes came to Russia from Europe, their fate there turned out to be no less precarious than ours. The claim presented to this means of saving infant lives is unexpected in Europe: anonymity violates the child’s right to know who his parents are. Opponents of baby boxes in Russia rest on the other side of the issue - the lack of punishment and criminal liability for leaving a child. Indeed, the transfer of the baby through the windows of life is not punishable. Some fighters with innovation are dissatisfied not only with the lack of criminal responsibility, but also with the very fact of making life easier for a dysfunctional parent. In their opinion, only the most conscious mothers deliver to the box of babies, whom such a method only "corrupts", greatly facilitating the process of abandoning the child. However, in dealing with the moral character of the parents of abandoned children, officials lose sight of the fact that the life of the child is often on the other side of the scale.
What exactly happens in the head of a woman who has just given birth, looking for a way to get rid of a newborn, is impossible for most people to understand and imagine. Some are planning an ex-post "complete abortion", which was abandoned by specialists in late pregnancy, others are simply lost and broken. But in both cases, the problems of “re-educating” such women should be separated from helping their children. Installed containers for babies should not be a way to reduce the abandonment of children, because their function is to save the fragile lives of babies by providing them with caring and reliable hands of specialists in return for deceiving mothers.
