Someone put a newborn baby girl in a baby box at the hospital in Jablonec nad Nisou an hour before midnight on Tuesday. She was carefully dressed and given the name Karolína Jablonecká, said Ludvík Hess, founder of the baby box network.
“The door creaked open at 11 p.m., and when I called the children’s ward a few minutes later, the nurse, Jana Horčičková, a kind, and sweet lady, answered the phone. According to her words, the baby is today’s (Tuesday’s) baby, clean and carefully dressed, wrapped in a white and pink blanket, wearing a white cap on her head and a pacifier in her mouth,” Hess said.
He added that the same nurse also picked up the first baby girl from Jablonec in 2010. The girl will receive a golden newborn ducat from the Czech Mint, which is based in Jablonec, according to Hess and its marketing manager, Jaroslav Černý .
So far this year, eight babies have been deposited in these special boxes in the Czech Republic, bringing the total number of babies deposited in the network to 239 since its inception, 131 girls and 108 boys.
There are now 82 baby boxes in the Czech Republic. The first one was installed in 2005, and the last one was installed at the beginning of June this year at the Hranice Hospital. The baby boxes are intended to prevent threats to the health and lives of the babies being put down. When someone puts a baby in one, heating, ventilation, and, with a slight delay, an alarm is switched to alert the health facility staff.
The boxes are positioned, so people do not have to worry about being surprised while putting their babies down. Baby boxes have critics who claim that they contradict some articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, such as the right to a name, identity, nationality, and the right to know one’s parents.