Neighbors expressed guilt for not realizing the situation sooner. Attributing the anonymity of modern life as a factor enabling the neglect to persist. “When there was a family and a village around the family, if the mother neglected the child, it didn’t matter too much, because the rest of the family and the whole village took care of the child. It’s not like that anymore,” a local resident said.
What does the University of Nottingham say about abandonment?
In a survey of 10 EU countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and the UK), there is a notable absence of a clear legal definition for child abandonment. This lack of clarity and the ambiguity surrounding what qualifies as child abandonment pose challenges for both research and practical efforts related to this issue.
Child abandonment is a significant factor leading to institutional care for children under three. A comparison of institutions in Western Europe revealed that only 4% of children were abandoned. Whereas in Central and Eastern Europe, the figure was much higher at 32%. Romania, Hungary, and Latvia had the highest rates of abandoned children in institutional care. While Denmark, Norway, and the UK reported child abandonment as rare.
EU countries are implementing various measures to prevent child abandonment. These initiatives include:
- Social assistance
- Day-care facilities
- Mother-baby units
- Family planning services
- Counselling services for mothers and/or families
- Financial support
- Programs targeting high-risk families and child identity
- Parent ‘training centers’
- Helplines offering support for mothers in need
- Guidance on preventing child abandonment at maternity units
- The presence of social workers in maternity units
- Training for hospital staff to recognize and handle high-risk situations, providing positive counseling.
