The Abandoned Baby Girl

October 25, 2012
Anita and I were walking back to work after lunch. As we passed a putput the driver excitedly told Anita what the big hubbub going on down the street was about. Someone had abandoned a baby on a doorstep. We saw a huge throng of people coming towards us crowded around another putput carrying a woman holding the baby. They were taking it to the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office. Everyone wanted to see the baby. She was about three days old, bundled up in clean clothes and blankets and still had the Band-Aid on her little heel from the blood testing prick. This meant she’d been delivered in a clinic but it could have been anywhere.

She was transported to the hospital in Ormoc where she’ll go through adoption proceedings. They have no system or procedures here for putting babies up for adoption. If the mom of this abandoned baby were caught she would be charged with a crime and put in prison. Anita said she felt pity for the baby. Yes of course but I also feel sorry for the mother. She is probably a very young girl in a desperate situation. The baby girl most likely now has a chance at a better life than she’d have if she stayed here in whatever desperate situation the mother was in.