Father Drops Off Preschool Child in Baby Drop Off Box in Japan

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Father Drops Off Preschool Child in Baby Drop Off Box in Japan
By Storm Jackson

Time Magazine reports that Japan is now thinking over their baby "drop box" system. In Japan, they have a drop box that you can put unwanted babies in. This is for real. On the very first day this new system was put into effect, a father dropped off his preschool child in the drop box.
Newspapers all across the nation gave warnings that this system could be abused by people. And that the drop box could potentially traumatize kids. The people behind the program condemned what the father did.

The program is being called "Stork's Cradle" and is a 45cm by 65cm drawer built into a wall. This drop off box is at the Jikei hospital, which is located in the city of Kumamoto. This system is supposed to help women who decide they are incapable of taking care of their child. This program makes it very easy for anyone to drop off their baby if they don't want him or her. Anyone can drop off a baby through the drawer, and into an incubator, 24 hours a day.
The first boy who was dropped off is in good health today. He wasn't hurt in the incident. Reports indicate that he was dropped into the box by his dad, and they were holding hands together as they walked towards the hospital drop off box. The boy gave a statement to the Mainichi newspaper and said "I came with Daddy". The boy was able to tell people his name and who he was, but it's not been reported whether or not the father has been identified yet.
The hospital did not want to talk about the incident with anyone. They refused to comment on the incident. The hospital did say, though, that there are age limitations in place. Police in the city say that the father did not commit any kind of crime. The boy was left in a situation where he was not in any danger. Therefore, no charges are being filed.

There was a reason why this program was created. Many people have recently dropped off and left babies in parks and supermarkets. In order to prevent this from happening anymore, they decided to come up with this "Stork's Cradle" program.

"We must rethink the meaning of the baby drop-off," the conservative Sankei newspaper said. "Unlike a baby, a toddler may suffer from trauma". "This little boy must be experiencing great loneliness. We urge his mother or father to come forward," the newspaper said, calling this incident "unforgivable."



Sources:Julian Ryall "Boy of four abandoned at Japan's 'baby hatch'" "http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/16/wbaby16.xml"

Hans Greimal "Japan Rethinking Baby Drop Box" "http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1621633,00.html?xid=rss-world"

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