Abandoned Children on the Increase in SA

More than 2 000 children are abandoned annually in South Africa because of AIDS, poverty, drug abuse and teenage pregnancies, according to Child Welfare South Africa (CWSA).

The organisation has also revealed that mothers, particularly economic migrants and asylum seekers from neighbouring countries, are abandoning their children in big numbers at hospitals after birth.

Acting Gauteng coordinator of CWSA, Megan Briede, has been quoted as saying that between 2000 and 2300 cases of child abandonment and neglect have been recorded over the last three years, an increase of between eight percent and 10 percent year on year.

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