Japan: Six infants abandoned at baby-drop box

Public opinion on an anonymous baby drop box is improving, according to the hospital in southern Japan that operates the facility, amid media reports that six infants have been left there in three months.

The “Stork’s Cradle” opened in May at the Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto City with the aim of discouraging abortion and the abandonment of children. People can leave babies in an incubator via a small hatch at the side of the hospital. The children are cared for by the hospital, then put up for adoption.