Singapore—After a newborn baby was found alive in a rubbish bin, offers have come in to adopt the infant, says The New Paper (TNP).
Two cleaners from the area who had heard crying sounds found the baby boy with his umbilical cord still attached at Block 534 Bedok North Street 3 between 8:00 and 9:00 on the morning of Tuesday (Jan 7) inside a tied-up white plastic bag that had bloodstains. The cleaners told their supervisor, who then called the police.
Patwari Shamin, one of the cleaners who found the baby, said that they had to go through the garbage pile before they found the bag with the crying infant.
The baby was then brought to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Upon examination, the infant was found to have no visible injuries and was in stable condition.
Police are still looking for the baby’s parents and are investigating the matter. Although they went on a door-to-door search in the building on the day the baby was found, they were unsuccessful in tracing the parents.
But the baby has no lack of willing caregivers in the meantime, as two women are offering to give the child a home after they heard about the news of his abandonment and rescue.
One woman named Susan Tan, who had read the baby’s story in TNP, sent an email saying she was interested in helping him.
She told TNP in a phone interview, “It’s very sad that someone would throw the baby in the rubbish like this. As much as it is tragic, he is a very lucky baby to have survived.
I’m willing to take care of him for as long as it takes. But if his parents are found and want him back, I’m also willing to give him back.”
Ms Tan and her husband have two pre-teen daughters and live in a four-room apartment. She added, “I think my husband would be happy because he would love to have a boy.”
The other woman who came forward with an offer to help the baby said her name was Mrs Wong. She also emailed TNP to say that she was willing to take care of the baby, but did not respond when TNP asked for an interview.
Opposition leader Pritam Singh asked people not to rashly judge the parents of the abandoned baby. In an answer to a comment on his Facebook page, the Workers’ Party MP wrote, “But let’s not rush to judge the parents or whoever dumped the child. I hope they get help they need even as they will have to face up to what was done”.
In his post about the baby he had written, “A million thoughts crossed my head when I saw the pictures and you can imagine the thoughts expressed through words and emoticons by the other MPs, feelings I am sure many would Singaporeans share (sic).”
Had the worker not found the blessed child, he could have been crushed by the compactor where all rubbish is centrally disposed in the precinct.”
According to a report from The Straits Times, there were 16 abandoned babies in Singapore between 2009 and 2018. -/TISG