New | Critics say baby hatches 'encourage child abandonment' as nearly 80 babies left at Guangzhou shelter over CNY

Debate has been sparked on whether the establishment of baby hatches is encouraging parents to abandon unwanted children, after nearly 80 children were reported to have been left in baby hatches in Guangzhou during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday.

Guangzhou’s first baby hatch, or so-called “abandoned baby island,” has received 51 babies between its launch on January 28 and February 10, according to Southern Metropolis News.

After the Chinese New Year holiday that runs between January 31 and February 14, that number increased to 79, Xinhua reported – 11 babies more than the total number that a Shijiazhuang baby shelter, the first of its kind on the mainland, received in its first year of operations.

The abandoned children were between one and six years old, most of who have physically or mentally disabilities, Xu Jiu, the director of Guangzhou social welfare institute, told Xinhua.

Most of the abandoned babies were boys, while nearly two-thirds of the parents had left cash or notes saying that they had no choice and hoped the children could receive better medical treatment, Xinhua reports.

The baby hatch in Guangzhou was much busier than local social welfare authorities expected, the report said. In comparison, the shelter at Tianjin received just 15 abandoned children in more than 40 days since it was opened at the beginning of this year, while the hatch at Nanjing received 26 babies in its first two weeks of opening in December.