Abandoned Baby Crisis in Kenya Far from over
Monday, May 18th, 2009
Stories of newborn babies deserted by their parents because of poverty and disease abound in Kenya, Africa. Based on the numbers acquired from the Frances Jones Abandoned Baby Center, one child is abandoned every day.
Dave was found by police on the streets of Thika when he was only 4 months old. His mother is presumed to have been a person with AIDS.
Feed the Children, an international charity network advancing child care efforts all over the world, believes that the increase in abandoned babies are because of AIDS; a UN Agency counts about 1.1 million children orphaned because of this disease.
Feed the Children founders Larry and Frances Jones established the Abandoned Baby Care Center in 2001 to help address the crisis of abandoned babies in Kenya. The center provides shelter, medical attention and education to give them hope and survival. At present, the center houses deserted babies police find everywhere.
An example is Daniel, who was discovered on top of a trash pile, his face eaten away by dogs. The Abandoned Baby Center took him in and cared for him, including getting a team of surgeons to operate on his damaged face.
For now, the likes of Daniel and Dave will have to keep calling the orphanages and centers their home. Kenyan laws do not allow international adoption, despite many calls to make adoption laws more effective.