Baby savers in Gauteng will remain operational despite a directive from the Gauteng Department of Social Development declaring them illegal and ordering their immediate closure.

For every three children who are abandoned, two die.

This is one of the chilling statistics shared by Dr Whitney Rosenberg, the cofounder of Baby Savers South Africa. The national coalition of organisations was founded in 2021 and serves as an advisory body for members who have installed baby savers at their premises. There are 45 members across South Africa who form part of the coalition.

A baby saver, also referred to as a baby box or a baby safe, is a structure built into a wall where mothers can leave their infants. An alarm is triggered once a baby is placed inside the box. This alerts first responders who attend to the baby, who is then taken to a hospital for a check-up.

"We basically give them guidance on how to properly run their baby savers. The steps that they must follow for the safety of the child, the legislative processes [in] assigning a child to a registered social worker, notifying the department that a child has been received through a baby saver, and obtaining a court order to place the child in a child and youth care centre," said Rosenberg.

Baby savers have made headlines in the past...