Experts around the country have slammed a new initiative in Cape Town that allows parents to dump their unwanted babies anonymously in a "baby safe" mounted on a wall of a community centre.

This well-meaning but controversial endeavour by charity worker Kim Highfield coincides with claims that there has been an increase in baby abandonment.

Steven Otter, spokesman for Western Cape MEC for social development Patricia de Lille, estimates that about 500 babies are abandoned in the province every year.

The Department of Social Development could not provide national figures on baby abandonment, but Childline and Child Welfare SA said there had been a spike in such cases.

Highfield's "baby safe", in Table View, was opened on Friday. Less than 10 seconds after a baby is placed in the metal structure, which is lined with a baby blanket and pillow, an alarm is triggered inside the building.

Highfield is then alerted by SMS and fetches the baby.

"All I want to do is save that baby's life," said Highfield, director of the Out of Africa Children's Fund. "It costs me only a little bit of petrol and a little bit of my time."

Similar projects have been launched in Cape Town and Johannesburg, but Highfield said her "baby safe" was the first of its kind in that it had a hi-tech safety and alarm system.

No one has yet made use of the safe.

Child welfare experts agree that, though Highfield means well, her initiative could increase baby abandonment and create a myriad of legal and social problems.

Megan Briedé, a director of Child Welfare SA, said it was a crime to abandon one's baby.

"Should a mother or father leave their baby in the safe, it would create a huge legal problem. Firstly, you have to prove that the baby was abandoned. Medical checks would have to be conducted. You would have to check for HIV/Aids, for example. The baby could lie in a place of safety for up to six months before being adopted," she said.

Briedé and Cheryl Pratley, who runs a home for abandoned babies in Durban, said the adoption process would go faster if the baby were taken to the authorities.

"[The baby safe] is a terrible idea. The baby will definitely be traumatised by this. It would be easier for the mother to leave the baby at the hospital and sign the necessary forms there," said Pratley.

Joan van Niekerk, the national co-ordinator for Childline SA, said baby dumping had "without a doubt" increased over the past few years.

"I think it's driven by the HIV/Aids predicament, as well as by the lack of responsibility and visibility of father figures in this country," she said.

She also questioned the creation of baby safes, such as the one Highfield had set up.

"It actually adds to the problem ... it puts enormous pressure on social workers to trace where this child came from. These types of places encourage mothers to commit a criminal offence by abandoning their babies."

Bethany O'Connor, is a director and a social worker for Baby Safe, an organisation that uses a similar system to give parents a place to abandon their babies safely. Baby Safe has a drop-off point at King of Kings Baptist Centre, south of Fish Hoek.

Only one baby has been abandoned in the safe.

About 101 babies have been left in the "baby bin" of Door of Hope Children's Mission, in Berea, central Johannesburg, since January 2007.

According to Cheryl Allen, founder and director of Door of Hope, only 10% of the babies left in the organisation's care are placed in the baby bin.

Other abandoned babies are left in its care by the police, the public or hospitals.

National and provincial social development departments have not dismissed Highfield's initiative.

"As a department, we welcome any measure that community members or organisations take to protect children as long as those measures are aimed at the best interests of the child.

"We need to work together with all sectors of the society. We want community members to get involved in child protection," said Abram Phahlamohlaka, spokesman for the Department of Social Development.

Otter said the authorities in the Western Cape were encouraging parents to seek help before abandoning their babies.

"We understand NGOs want to help and they offer baby bins, that's their choice. From our side, we are trying to encourage youngsters to come forward and speak to our social workers and understand that there is help out there."

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