Child welfare minister Emma Kantema has urged mothers in distress to seek counselling and support instead of abandoning their babies.
She made the call during a government information sharing session in Windhoek yesterday, focusing on child neglect and abandonment alongside the causes and effects thereof.
“We are encouraging young mothers to seek help so we can assist,” Kantema said, adding that some mothers find themselves in difficult situations like abusive relationships or poverty, and that counselling could help.
“We’ll look at your situation and help you explore various options,” she said.
Although she does not encourage abandonment, the minister of gender equality and child welfare highlighted legal channels through which mothers can give up their babies if they are not able to care for them.
These include family care, adoption and places of safety.
Kantema, however, warned that leaving infants in undesignated spaces such as fire stations, schools, hospitals and clinics could have consequences.
She said those in need of assistance, including fathers, can reach out to the child welfare ministry, as well as the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Namibia’s Child Care and Protection Act has decriminalised abandoning healthy babies in a safe space to encourage mothers to refrain from unsafe abandonment.
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