A muted squawk typical of life at 4 hours old catches Constable Ngoma's attention. He follows the sound and finds a tiny baby shivering in the dirt in the afternoon sun.

Police generally name abandoned babies "Junior". The surname given is usually their own. Junior Ngoma - a little girl - was born on June 14, 2010.

Anger often characterises the public' s response to stories of abandoned babies - it's an understandable one given that one of our most basic instincts is to care for our offspring.

However, child abandonment is a complex issue and each case is unique .

The question most people ask is this: how can a mother carry a child for nine months, endure the delivery and then dump the baby behind a fence or in a dustbin? How can she be so heartless? Has she totally lost her instinct as a woman, as a mother?

In rare cases the answer to this question might be yes. In the overwhelming majority of cases the answer is no.

Constable Ngoma took Junior to a hospital and she was later taken to a place of safety and looked after for the night.

The following day she was placed in the legal care of "crisis parents" - couples who care for abandoned babies until the state can find suitable adoptive parents.

Junior's Rapid HIV test revealed that her Mum was HIV positive. The baby girl was put onto antiretrovirals - she was within the 72 hour window period - and after 6 weeks of intensive treatment her status was negative.

Now we must ask this question: was being abandoned the worst thing that could have happened to Junior Ngoma? Possibly not.

Also, was her mom's seemingly callous act designed with her baby's welfare in mind? Much seemed to have been considered to minimise the chance of the baby dying in the dirt - she was within earshot of the street, and behind the Cato Crest clinic.

It seems likely that her mother intended for her to be found.

Women who abandon their children are usually in an utterly desperate position - damned if they do, doomed if they don't. Often the act of abandonment is a calculated risk rather than the heartless act it is sometimes perceived to be.

Mothers - sick, desperately poor and without the support of the child's father or an extended family - often abandon their babies in the hope that they will be found and be given a better life than the one they could provide.

It is perhaps the most extreme manifestation of the maternal instinct.

Junior Ngoma would have been born to an HIV positive mother. The chances are that she would have become another HIV statistic.

None of this justifies the abandonment of children; alternatives must be communicated to desperate mothers at every opportunity and as widely as possible.

But perhaps we need to empathise with the many mothers who are faced with the terrible question: "Is my baby better off without me?"

When the crisis parents took custody of 17-hour-old Junior they decided to rename her. After all, Junior is not a suitable name for a pretty little newborn baby girl. Instead they called her Hope.

• Foxton is founder of "Stop Crime Say Hello". For more information visit www.sayhello.co.za