An alternative to baby boxes can be a state institution, where single mothers can temporarily leave their newborn children in order to restore their psychological state. This opinion was expressed by the State Duma deputy from "United Russia" Vitaly Milonov in an interview with the Moscow City News Agency on Tuesday, June 27.
“There should be an opportunity for mothers to give up their child for a while. Maybe this is not entirely correct, but at least we do not separate the child and the mother. There are so many cases when mothers give the child to the baby box, and a day later they come to their senses, in tears they ask to give the child, but they no longer give him, because the child acted anonymously,”Milonov said.
Giving the regions the right to independently determine the need to install baby boxes and their number is considered unacceptable by the people's deputy. “Is the protection of families and children a prerogative of the regions? No, this is a federal prerogative, "he said, adding that the statistics of cases when mothers kill their children to get rid of them cannot be an argument for making a decision on baby boxes.
In March of this year, Duma deputies Oksana Pushkina, Irina Rodnina, Elena Vtorigina and Senator Vadim Tyulpanov introduced a bill to the lower house of parliament, which is proposed to give regional authorities the authority to create places on the territory of the subject for anonymous abandonment of a child and the procedure for their installation.
In September 2016, the government supported the draft law proposed by Senator Elena Mizulina banning baby boxes. At the same time, a number of politicians call the senator's initiative inhuman and indicate that if it is adopted, abandoned babies will lose their chance to survive.
A baby box is a specially equipped place with a cradle where a mother can leave a child she has decided to abandon. They are installed at medical institutions or religious organizations. Currently, baby boxes exist in at least five Russian regions: Moscow, Vladimir and Kaliningrad regions, Krasnodar and Kamchatka regions.