Hokkaido gov’t asks group to stop accepting infants at ‘baby hatch’

SAPPORO — The Hokkaido Prefectural Government has asked a citizens’ group running a “baby hatch” to stop accepting infants after it was discovered that the group took in newborns who hadn’t been seen by a doctor.

The group, Kodomo SOS Hokkaido, based in the town of Tobetsu, set up the baby hatch in May 2022, allowing people to leave a newborn there anonymously. However, as this baby hatch lacked a system to provide medical care, among other reasons, the Hokkaido government asked the group to refrain from accepting babies. In October 2023, Kodomo SOS had announced that it would close down its baby hatch.

Yet it emerged that in January 2024 the group took in two newborns who hadn’t been taken to medical institutions. Since Kodomo SOS’s website still says it’s running a baby hatch, the prefectural government on Feb. 19 requested that it suspend accepting babies and halt posting information related to its baby hatch.

According to Hokkaido’s child policy bureau, the two babies have since been seen by a doctor and are now in the care of a related agency.

Child policy bureau head Yukihiko Azuma criticized Kodomo SOS’s actions, saying, “Medical care for the infants and mothers is delayed, and the group is sending out information that cannot be dealt with (by the prefectural government). We believe that it’s not responding to the matter safely as we speak.” He then urged people to use the prefectural government-run support center for troubled expectant mothers at 080-4621-7722 (in Japanese).

(Japanese original by Hiroyuki Katano, Hokkaido News Department)