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Fourth baby placed in Olten's baby window
On 24 August 2017 at 2:20 p.m., another baby was placed in the baby window at Olten cantonal hospital. It is a small and perfectly healthy boy weighing 1,940 g and measuring 43 cm. He entered the world on the previous day. His mother wrote him a touching letter in Swiss German, explaining that she had had to keep the pregnancy and birth secret. The Child and Adult Protection Authority [Kindes- und Erwachsenen-
schutzbehörde] (KESB) in Olten-Gösgen was informed. A guardian has now assumed the rights and obligations that normally apply to the child's parents. It is the fourth baby to have been placed in Olten's baby hatch since it opened on 31 May 2013 and the 20th in total since baby hatches were introduced in Switzerland.
The mother of the child may notify the Child and Adult Protection Authority (KESB) in Olten-Gösgen or the Swiss Aid for Mother and Child Foundation [Stiftung Schweizerische Hilfe für Mutter und Kind] (helpline@shmk.ch) to establish contact with the child. She is guaranteed absolute discretion. She can also get free advice and material and financial assistance from the Swiss Aid for Mother and Child Foundation to find the best solution for herself and her child.
To protect everyone involved and with a view to official and professional secrecy, data protection and personal rights, neither the KESB Olten-Gösgen, Olten cantonal hospital nor the Swiss Aid for Mother and Child Foundation can provide more information on this particular case.
An offer of help in extreme emergency situations
The baby window offers mothers an anonymous way to ensure their child receives proper medical care in extreme emergency situations. This is intended to prevent the abandonment of children or infanticide, both of which have occurred repeatedly in the past.