• Baby Savers SA warns that a proposed amendment will outlaw safe baby relinquishment.
• Gauteng Social Development Department accused of defying court order and spreading misinformation.
• Call for public solidarity to protect vulnerable women and children before the 25 October 2025 deadline.
Baby Savers South Africa, a national coalition of non-profits dedicated to preventing unsafe infant abandonment, is urging South Africans to stand up for the country’s most vulnerable citizens, newborn babies, and women with nowhere safe to turn.
The group has condemned a proposed legal amendment that would criminalise the use of Baby Savers, monitored baby boxes that provide a life-saving alternative for desperate mothers. “These boxes are not just metal and padding,” it said in a statement. “They are a bridge between life and death for babies who might otherwise be left to die.”
From innovation to controversy
The first Baby Saver was installed in July 1999 at Door of Hope Children’s Mission in Berea, Johannesburg. Designed to provide desperate mothers with an anonymous and safe alternative to abandoning their babies, these devices trigger an alarm when a baby is placed inside, allowing caregivers to respond immediately.
Since then, Baby Savers have rescued hundreds of infants, some adopted, others reunited with families, all given a second chance at life. However, in 2023, the Gauteng Department of Social Development ordered all Baby Savers to shut down, claiming they were operating illegally. When Door of Hope refused, the department threatened to close the organisation entirely, prompting urgent legal action in the Pretoria High Court.
The court granted an interim order allowing Baby Savers to continue operating until January 2026 and compelling the department to treat the organisation as registered and entitled to state support. Yet the department has reportedly ignored the order, withholding funding and statutory services while spreading claims that “Baby Savers lead to child trafficking.”
Legal standoff and looming amendment
In February 2025, Baby Savers SA filed a main application seeking to have sections of the Children’s Act declared unconstitutional for not recognising safe relinquishment. But before the courts could rule, the department published a proposed amendment redefining the use of Baby Savers as “abandonment,” effectively criminalising the act before the matter could be heard.
“The department is acting as though South Africa is not a democracy,” said Baby Savers SA. “They are declaring Baby Savers illegal before the courts or the public have had their say.”
The department argues that anonymous relinquishment violates a child’s right to family and identity. But Baby Savers SA insists the right to life comes first. “The mothers who use these boxes are not criminals,” the organisation said. “They are victims of poverty, violence, and social rejection, women who want their babies to live.”
Women silenced, babies endangered
The consequences of bureaucratic resistance are already visible. Two teenage mothers were recently refused the right to place their babies for adoption, even with parental consent. Others report being forced to “bond” with their infants before hospital discharge or being ignored entirely by social workers.
“The proposed amendment tells women that dumping a baby in a field is more acceptable than placing one safely in a monitored, padded Baby Saver,” said Baby Savers SA. “It criminalises compassion and endangers life.”
For now, the future of Baby Savers hangs in the balance. As the deadline for public submissions approaches, Baby Savers SA is calling for national unity and civic action.
“Submit your objections to the Bill by email to matlhogonolos@dsd.gov.za, ntopot@dsd.gov.za, and luyandamt@dsd.gov.za before 25 October 2025,” the organisation urged. “Our children need your help, and South Africa needs your voice.”
“The proposed amendment tells women that dumping a baby in a field is more acceptable than placing one safely in a monitored, padded Baby Saver.” – Baby Savers SA.
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