NCPA proposes to establish Infant Receiving Centres in Hospitals

The Child Protection Authority has proposed to establish Infant Receiving Centres in Hospitals in all nine provinces where parents could hand over their new born infants without claiming their identity, Chairman of the National Child Protection Authority Udayakumara Amarasinghe said today.

He told a news conference that a set of proposals were drafted by the NCPA in 2021 in this regard.

He said according to the proposal, it was proposed to open Infant Receiving Centres in Hospitals covering all nine provinces allowing parents who were unable or unwilling to bring up their new borns due to various reasons to hand over their infants without revealing their identity.

The Chairman said this set of proposals were submitted to the Cabinet in 2021 and said the legal officer of the Cabinet Office pointed out that the Cabinet Paper should be presented through the Department of Probation and Child Care Services.

He said it was a timely need to expedite the process after considering the escalating incidents of deserting the newborns by the parents.

He said these centres were successfully functioning in India. (Ajith Siriwardana)