Kantema urges mothers to seek help instead of abandoning infants

WINDHOEK, 26 MAR (NAMPA) – The Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Emma Kantema has urged mothers in distress to seek counselling and support instead of abandoning their babies.
Kantema made the call during a government information sharing session here on Thursday, that focused on child neglect and abandonment alongside their causes and effects, as well as social responsibility.
“We are really encouraging young mothers, we are really encouraging mothers to seek help so that we can come out and assist,” she stressed, saying that some mothers find themselves in difficult positions such as abusive relationships and poverty, and counselling helps in such situations.
“With that counselling, we’ll then look at what your situation is, and we’ll assist you to explore various ways,” the minister added.
Although she does not encourage abandonment, the minister highlighted legal channels through which mothers can give up their babies if they cannot care for them at all. These include kinship care, adoption and places of safety.
However, she warned that leaving infants in undesignated spaces such as fire stations, schools, hospitals and clinics can lead to consequences.
She concluded by indicating that those in need of assistance including fathers can reach out to the child welfare ministry, as well as the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
As baby dumping in Namibia is a problem, the country’s Child Care and Protection Act of 2019 decriminalised the action of abandoning healthy infants in a selected safe space, to encourage mothers to refrain from unsafe abandonment.
(NAMPA)
EST/PS/EK