Friday, August 10, 2007

Unwanted babies at Al-Sabah Maternity Hospital

Al-Sabah Hospital's Maternity ward is full of unwanted children, their mothers deliver them and run away leaving those children to be brought up without a family. In these cases, usually they are handed over to the Ministry of labour and Social Affairs orphanage, but the orphanage is overcrowded and it refuses to take in more children so these babies stay at the maternity ward and are left there for years without any identification and are given names by the nurses of the ward. Some of these children's mothers are labour expats who run after delivery but most belong to Kuwait mothers who were impregnated by their boyfriends or raped by a family member.

s.w.s is trying to find a solution to this problem, some members think that the children of non-kuwaitis should be handed over to the embassy of the country the mother belonged to, others feel that the orphange should be forced to take them in. What do you think?

21 comments:

shoosha said...

how the hell could the mother run away :S

nQ said...

i think that if the law permits for the babies to carry my name and inherit my 2KDs when i die, i would so adopt a couple.

there should be an adoption campaign, i know people in kuwait that have adopted or thought of adoption for reals.

Unknown said...

open the door to adoption

how would you know which embassy? DNA test?
too complicated

I'm sure so many people can welcome them. We need a new adoption law

Anonymous said...

in my opinion, i cant say that the orphanage is forced to take in more babies because i cant blame them they can nly take in as much babies as they can handle bacause if they take in more they wont be able to function or support all the orphans they have.


i sharha 3ala hal ahal ili isawoon feehom chithee even if it was a mistake like getting pregnant by a boyfrien they musn't leave like that and leave if they can't take care of them they can always put them up for adoption.

anyway what i think is that it is a very serious problem and for once mejlis il oma should face a true problem rather than istijwabat malha ma3na they should open an other orphange or increase the capacty of the one that we have today.

other than that there must be a good way of taw3eyat il shabab 3an hal mashakel oo khoo9oo9an bil madares and showing them real life stories because teenagers in this stage of life can be fragile oo bsoohoola momkin yinga9 3alaihom. because that could be a way to decrease the problem other than giving the people who get in to the problem an easy sollution like throw their kids away and knowing someone will take them.

anyway that is what i think there might be better sollutions oo inshala allah yahdi il jamee3 ;)

Omtantoo7 said...

i think ina some people are sij mo kafo ne3ma wela deserve teh ability to reproduce. Ilmafrooth ildawla titakafal feehom, it's not theyre fault ina omhom 7mara..

sws said...

shoosha - thanks for your comment, i guess the circumstance is so bad that a mother would have to leave her daughter behind, sad.

nq - Thanks,very noble of you

louis - they know who the mothers are from their civil ids, the expats are not located because they are on the run and the locals use fake ids.So the baby's nationality is identified from the mother's civil id. Thanks for commenting :)


q8ya - I agree with you completely, the government should provide bigger and better orphanges and yes it should be on the parliament's agenda and awareness campaigns are a must. ya36eech al 3afya.

shosho said...

Simple, build a new bigger orphanage - same solution to our electricity problem, build new & better generators.

As the population increases, the number of illegitimate babies will also increase so the government should take the necessary measures to accomodate the consequences of this demographic growth.

But do we have a government that addresses its problems and tries to solve them effectively? Hell no.

sws said...

Shosho - Absolutely, or start aborting like the Chinese (kidding). Thanks for your input.


This situation is Al-Sabah Hospital is pitful, the government certainly must do something about it. A couple years ago Mustafa Boodai donated to fix their ward, apparently the money was not used well, and fixing the ward is a quick ix to the solution, there must be a way to move these poor kids to the orphanage or any other better place, they are missing out on education and other necessities.

Unknown said...

I personally think too that adoption should be considered, or have a program like the foster homes.
I think our society should be open to the idea of raising orphans. In my discussions with some friends in the past i found out that people are reluctant to adopt or raise an orphan just because of what people might say about them. I.e. Oh this kid is probably theirs and they're hiding the fact by saying that he/she is an orphan. Which is complete B.S. to me.
We need an awareness campaign!

Anonymous said...

Thank God these women are going to the hospital and leaving their babies there, as opposed to giving birth in a toilet and abandoing the baby in a dumpster. At least in the hospital, they have a chance.

Haven't these babies always been with us? Out of sight, out of mind? What has the culture done with them previously? When they grow up, who do they marry? What nationality do they carry? Can they work in Kuwait? Who pays their school fees when they reach school age, or pays for their uniforms, their books?

Great entry, sws, and thank you for bringing this issue to our consciences.

sws said...

Thanks Intlxpatr,they are fully covered by the government if they belong to the orphanage, they get the nationality, free medical care, free schooling, some even continue their education in the united states, they marry girls from the orphanage or whoever they choose. BUT, if these babies are still in the Al-Sabah hospital and not moved to the orphanage they will never get any of the above, basically left with nothing.

Boochi, I know 3 families who have adopted and the kids turned perfectly okay and the families weren't scrutinized, I personally dont know much about the foster care system but it doesn't seem healthy to me that a child moves from different homes with different people, foster care i think is a temporary solution till th child finds an adoptee.

Anonymous said...

solution to this prob. is not only free space at the orphanage, which is crucial! these mothers were raped, secretly pregnant for nine months, went into labour, had no choice but to leave their newly born right after labour and run away.. which means no post-labour care.. this entire situation breaks my heart! neither mom nor child i believe gets over something like this.. FIX THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM.. i'm so sorry for the profanity but fuck this shit shino hal takhaluf .. people too busy stealing/ comparing themselves to others/ proving they're the most respectable since they can swear at so-called higher heads, meanwhile ignoring their responsibilities to be the voice of the people! and they call the gulf war the rape of kuwait.. WAKE UP PEOPLE THIS IS THE RAPE OF KUWAIT!

Anonymous said...

Like Tarsheed.. let them start a big campain abt condom..:)

Anonymous said...

can expats adopt in kuwait? how would one go about getting involved in volunteering to help?

G said...

Actually there is an "adoption"-system even if it's not technically adoption in the western sense. It's called 'i7tithan' I think. Where the family gets a kid, you get to pick the kid, and gets paid a particular amount each month. People who are genuinely interested should talk to the re3ayat il 6oofoola authorities. The last time I visited, a year ago, there were less than 40 orphaned children there I was told.
I know of families who have opened their home to these children with very little scrutiny from society...so it's not really a taboo. (If you're barely looking after your children, please don't volunteer to take in more.)

Anonymous said...

Great blog you have going here! Fingers crossed;let's hope here is a meaningful blog which can translate ideals into action and reality(someday).
Just a lil' curious to know if
a) you are man or woman
b) expat or local.

sws said...

Say non! to intolerance - Thank you, i'm glad you like it, I try my very best to put my words into actions. For your curiousity... I am a) a woman and b) a local.

Eman said...

Great post. And how sad. I agree foster care is a solution but only a temporary one. Adoption is the key, and of course a better system at the hospitals. How about requiring the father's ID as part of the check-in paperwork too?

I think if the children were allowed to carry the family name and inherit, many childless couples in Kuwait would be more receptive to adoption as a solution.

Jazzaach Allah khair please keep on keeping on.

Men Who Do Cleavages said...

Oye! non to intolerance:

How does it matter whether you are man or woman, local or expat!?Compassion and humanity are not defined by colour,gender or nationality.

Anonymous said...

Harsher punishment - or at least PUNISHMENT for rapists!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jai said...

How could we help? who to contact?