First anonymous baby cradle opens in Noord-Holland

Close to the Northwest Hospital in Den Helder the first crib in Noord-Holland where newly born babies can be left anonymously was opened on Friday.

“I hope this crib will not be necessary, but it is always good to have a last resort”, founder of the initiative Suzan Ernst said to NH Nieuws. The crib was created in collaboration with the municipality of Den Helder and the Protected Cradle Foundation.

“Every child deserves a safe start and we hope that there will be no more children found in unsafe areas on the street. That has thankfully happened in the last years a lot less, also because women have more information on how to find places like ours”, Kitty Nutseling from Protected Cradle said.

Ernst was distraught when three and a half years ago a baby was found dead in a garbage container in Rotterdam. “It really touched me and I felt responsible to do something about it. Something needed to happen so that parents do not leave their children on the street out of desperation.”

Last month, a baby was found alive in a garbage container in Amsterdam. The two teenage parents claimed to believe that their child was dead and had panicked afterward. Nutseling has reassured the NLtimes that the baby is “safe and well taken care of.”

With the opening of a new crib, Ernst hopes to prevent such instances from occurring again, “I really want that a child is found in a warm cradle and not in an underground container. I see this as a good start for Noord-Holland with hopefully many more to follow.”