The safe haven, according to its initiators, is meant to be: (...) an alternative to abandoning a child and depriving them of care, especially by mothers concealing their pregnancies. There are more than 60 safe havens in Poland. The first was established in 2006 at the convent of the Sisters of Nazareth in Kraków. Over 16 years, slightly more than 110 children, mainly newborns, were placed in safe havens.
A safe haven does not save a life; it cuts a child off from their family roots
There are no legal regulations concerning safe havens in Poland, as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child pointed out as early as 2015. A child abandoned in a safe haven loses their previous identity and becomes a person of unknown identity. The family court must give the child a new first name, surname and date of birth. On this basis, a PESEL number is assigned and a birth certificate is issued for the child from the safe haven. Only then can adoption procedures begin. Adopting such a child means knowing nothing about their history, including their medical history. Such a child will struggle throughout their life with a lack of knowledge about their biological family. They will be cut off from their roots.
Police determine whether the mother abandoned the child in the safe haven voluntarily
Leaving a child at a safe haven is supposed to be anonymous, but the police, who are called in such cases, are obliged to carry out identification procedures and check whether leaving the child is connected with a crime: whether the mother abandoned the child under duress, whether the child was kidnapped, etc. For the police, the most convenient course is to establish who the mother is in order to clarify all these matters. On the one hand, the mother is supposed to remain anonymous and cannot be prosecuted; on the other, it is best to find her and make sure that she abandoned the child voluntarily, for which under Polish law she may be sentenced to between three months and five years in prison. In the case of safe havens, in accordance with the recommendations of Zbigniew Ziobro, the Minister of Justice, prosecutors are not to initiate proceedings when a mother abandons her child at a safe haven, and this recommendation is consistently followed.
A child can be left legally at a hospital after birth
In Poland, a woman has the right to leave her child at a hospital after giving birth. It is enough to submit a written declaration when reporting for delivery or after giving birth, within six weeks; a special form is available for this purpose. After six weeks from the birth, the mother or both parents together must submit an application to relinquish their rights to the child before the family court in their place of residence. Approximately 800 women use this option each year; around seven children are placed in safe havens annually.
At St. Luke’s Hospital in Bolesławiec, according to the hospital, two children were left this way in 2019, none in 2020, six in 2021, and two so far in 2022. All the children who were left were placed in foster care.
What is the purpose of a safe haven in Bolesławiec?
It is worth asking this question of the initiators, who decided to raise 50,000 zlotys and spend it on precisely such an initiative. If the supporters of safe havens are to be believed, such a place “saves a child’s life.” However, no one has proved that such a place has saved any child from death. We would have to assume that people who leave children in safe havens are potential child murderers, and assume that if there were no safe havens, the parents or mother would not decide to leave the child at a hospital, but would instead “throw it in the trash” or kill it. Because this is presumably how the initiators’ statement should be understood: Thanks to supporting the safe haven, each of you can play a part in saving at least one life.