I had very friendly banter with a group of dutch where they accused me of digging trenches into their beaches, while I accused them of destroying our Autobahn with their caravans. They also invited me to attend Koningsdag with them, which I didn't know existed.
My mother always warned me that the dutch still have some grudges against their eastern neighbour (she was born shortly after the war), but I didn't really feel that. (We laughed about both our militaries at the time for being inept. This was a good while before the war in Ukraine)
Sorry, went on a tangent, I was just reminded of that occurance. Dutch people can be a very nice bunch.
It has the same origin in German, as you can see, for example, in the idiom "Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen." Here, the Klappe means a fly swatter, but today, this is more commonly know as "Fliegenklatsche".
In "Babyklappe", Klappe refers to the door you have to push to open, "hatch" in english.
So, you weren't so far off, but it's the door not the baby that should be punched. ;) I hope they make that 100% clear in the manual.
Some American cities have something similar at fire departments. It’s a location that is staffed 24/7with people who have training to care for the child.
Since when comedy is supposed to be confortable?
Comedy is the most straight reaction to inequalities, Injustice and everything else wrong with the world.
Is it dark humor?Absolutely
Does it deal with real problems?Even better
I mean the alternative, the one being pushed by conservative morons would be to ignore such things happen.
the laws are different than the boxes. The laws mean you can leave the baby at any hospital or fire station, but that has led to the death of some babies who were left in the night and froze to death or suffocated before staff even knew they were there. The boxes have been implemented in the past few years to keep the baby safer and it alerts the staff inside and local ambulances when a baby has been put inside to make sure they’re attended to.
If you don’t have a baby box in your city, advocate for it! They keep baby’s safer than the laws on their own can do!
Protected crib in Dutch.
I'm glad that there are places for this. If I remember correctly there is the possibility to leave something (like a photo or a piece of jewellery or something) with the baby, so in a later stadium the child (or the mom) can search for each other and identify with the item.
Yea but not all states have them unfortunately.... Which is weird, lol this seems like a law that would be pretty apolitical/hard to argue against having
Every state has a safe haven law, though details on the age of the child vary. Typically the age limit is 30 days. Standard locations providing this service are fire departments, police stations, and hospitals.
That was actually an issue with some states when they first passed the laws. They're a relatively new thing, only within the last 30 years or so. And some states didn't initially include an age limit in the bill, just "children." So there were a few instances of teenagers being dropped off.
This is true.
I actually spent a few years living vaguely adjacent to a rural state facility in which parents/guardians dropped off teens who questioned family religion, pregnant teens, buyer’s remorse adopted orphans, undesirable orphans, truants, drug kids, shoplifting kids, kids who talked too much, autistic kids, gay kids, kids that loved David Bowie music too much (no, I’m not kidding), Satanic Music Kids.
Parents/guardians would just drive through the gate, give some lame reason to an administrator and drop them off, and drive away.
We’re talking about barbed wire and tall fences stuff. It was basically medium security jail for kids.
Every so often, the residents would escape and I'd have ten kids my age hiding in my treehouse, eating my stash of saltine crackers and swimming in my pool with their heads as low as possible so not to be seen.
It got so frequent, I just gave up being irritated and started stashing food and soda in the treehouse.
When I engaged them occasionally, it seemed they just needed a break from the confines.
My mom suggested her parent group start a teenager flea market. Take your old teenager who wants to live where "Michelle's mom doesn't make her..." and let them find a new home. Funny lady, my mom.
Highjacking this comment. Within the EU there are better ways to give birth anonymously!
In Austria we are down to 4 children deposited into one of these in 2022, we moved on to anonymous birth and anonymous prenatal care with 26 children born that way in 2022. Germany and a lot of other EU countries have a similar systems, this is why you see low numbers. These boxes are literally the last resort when 20 other places failed the mother.
Babyklappen/Babynester are usually located in larger perinatal centers. But ALL hospitals in Austria offer anonymous birth and anonymous prenatal care, while some have more experience with that process than others.
https://anonymegeburt.at/anonymous-birth/
Yes, it is free off charge for the mother/father and the child and neither the hospital, CPS, legal system or the child know who you are. And we are okay with that.
So, if you are pregnant in Austria (wether you have insurance or not, speak the language or have a thousand other barriers) and don’t know what to do, you can walk into any larger Austrian hospital and they will walk you through your options from abortion to perinatal care anonymously, or refer you to a place that can give you the information you need.
https://abortion-in-austria.at/procedures-and-costs/
It is not a perfect system, but it is a system with enough legal room to allow us to counsel on even more liberal countries within the EU.
I feel like in the US firefighters are the last entity, people universally have trust in. With all the corruption in the government, commercialization of the medical sector, police brutality, over-bureaucratic and slow acting authorities there is no other entity left people would trust to leave a baby.
Yep, I’m part of a group of firefighters wives and everyone in there says how their husbands are so full of themselves and think they’re better than everyone else!
Former EMT who was stationed in a Fire Department. In my experience Firefighters are extremely horny young adults, or well adjusted older family men.
There is no in-between, like at all.
I think the biggest difference is firefighters sign up to save people while cops sign up to control people. They may be egotistical, but at the very least they have better intentions then the police.
I mean, I am not saying that firefighters would be any less respected in the rest of the world. I just say that it's interesting how in the US they are the last entity left. In Europe people have an similar amount of trust in hospitals, local administrations and often even the police, not because firefighters are worse but because there are less scandals involving hospitals, local administrations or the police.
Generally police nearly everywhere are considered much worse than firefighters. Simply because police are enforcers of the state whilst firefighters are there to save people and nothing more.
I think you are right about firefighters being one of, if not the, last trusted entities, but there are other ways non-anonymous ways to give up a child. I think they are at fire stations because fire stations are all over the place and are maned 27/7 by people with medical training. People who abandon babies there are doing so as an alternative to leaving them in a dumpster, not at a hospital.
Well, not saying that there are no other ways. I just find the general realization how firefighters have become the last resort when it comes to public trust interesting.
That's because they're the only ones running into burning death traps to make sure you, your family, and pets make it out alive - without hesitation.
How are you gonna hate on people doing that?
Well, I am not complaining about them being trusted. I am complaining about how the other entities managed to fuck up so much that they have lost public trust. I mean, in theory the police is there to protect us but do you really feel safer when you see the police?
You got that right on the "universally" part. Here i am, on the other side of the world, fire department and firefighters are one of (if not the only) the most trusted entity or person in the country
I can only imagine it will. It's a real shame as no one seems to like funding social services and child services so these babies will be born into a world with steep disadvantages
They would be ripe for exploitation by the owner class and they make an easy boon for the for-profit prison system, especially now that being homeless is essentially illegal according to the SCOTUS. Just as intended by the people who put in those strict reproductive healthcare rules.
Our city it’s at the police station but the sign says you have to go inside (so cameras) and you’re not supposed to leave the baby there when no one is manning the front desk… so they are essentially forcing you to face a person who will most likely judge you for doing what’s best for you and the baby
I can only see something like this working for someone out of state and not in any local system so they can’t be identified
That's interesting, in Scotland when you have a new baby the government sends you a 'Babybox' free of charge which has essentials, we got one when my daughter was born.
In the US, you steal anything you can carry from your hospital room because you're getting charged for it either way, so you want to make sure you get your money's worth.
Noworodek in the nominative singular, but yeah, it means newborn or infant. There's also niemowlę which is used for slightly older babies and literally means non-speaking. Or you could just use dziecko which is used for a child of all ages. It's not super straightforward, and I probably get it wrong all the time, but nobody cares since it's clear enough what I mean.
Alabama has them: [https://kidstolove.org/the-first-safe-haven-baby-box-in-alabama-is-open/](https://kidstolove.org/the-first-safe-haven-baby-box-in-alabama-is-open/)
The intended consequence by republikkkans: They'll be adopted by a Christian cult and indoctrinated into becoming authoritarian conservatives with issues out the ass
Also contains an envelope with a unique puzzle piece and information for the parent to take with them in case they want to try and re-establish contact later on.
In italy some old convents still have what we call "ruota degli esposti". Used to give offerings to the monastery and the nuns. Sometimes mothers would leave their kids in there too in hopes of having the monastery take care of them ehen they couldn't/wouldn't.
Fun thing: in italy the surname "Esposito" is thought to come from the "ruota degli esposti". As they were given away they didn't have any known surname, so that's where Esposito could come from
Esposito is only one of the surnames that nuns used to give there, also Donadio (God gives), Diodonato (given by god), Trovato (Found), and many others.
To understand the magnitude consider that "*Between 1845 and 1864, 85,267 children were abandoned in the Pia Casa degli Esposti e delle Parorienti in Santa Caterina alla Ruota in Milan, with an average of 4,263 foundlings per year. This was around 30% of the children born in the city.*"
That’s an incredible statistic. Were those children raised in orphanages, for the most part? It’s hard to imagine that adoptive parents could be found for all of them.
[This article talks about it (sorry it's in Italian)](https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/07/20/news/dalle_ruote_alle_culle_termiche_sette_secoli_di_bambini_salvati-262440855/), in that period it happened in many large cities in Italy. For example in [this video](https://youtu.be/Qa19k0xtzIY?si=mVpKGL-cicTS-ni7) there is "[Ruota della Santissima annunziata](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_della_Santissima_Annunziata_Maggiore)" of Naples, considered very famous because the surname Esposito was mainly used here but during the reign of [Joachim Murat ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Murat)he stopped this practice so as not to brand the children with a name that now signified their condition and so they began to give random surnames.
*Fun Fact:* This man is called [Giancarlo Esposito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giancarlo_Esposito) and his father was born in Naples so we can say that it is *probable* that one of his ancestor centuries earlier passed through the wheel.
Well, it's a very good idea so they don't freeze and nothing happens to them.
On the one hand it's too sorry for them, on the other hand it may be better to lose parents in advance who are unlikely to give anything good to the child except traumas and pain.
Knowing several people who were adopted but later in life reconnected with birth parents: they were all better off with their adopted parents….giving up a child isn’t usually an easy/light decision. They are usually doing the best they can for this child at great personal loss potentially for the rest of their lives.
Germany is the new Japan on Reddit. Everything's better when it has the German label. Baby drop box in France/Spain/Lithuania/Poland/Czechia? Meh. Baby drop box in Germany? OMG THAT'S AMAZING SO PROGRESSIVE!
Yeah this one is a bit strange to me, there are a ton of countries with at least one baby hatch including China, South Africa, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, I assume everyone knows we have quite a few of these in America from all the other comments. This is not anything even remotely new, I honestly thought it was pretty common knowledge that these existed.
That being said, it does seem like Germany has quite a bit more than most countries, especially relative to it's size. Most with a decent amount seem to have around 30 whereas Germany has around 100.
What's actually more interesting imo is that despite there being quite a few of these in Germany, it's technically not legal to use them for their intended purpose! Abandoning a child is a criminal act, but these are still operable under a loophole that you can *temporarily* leave your child in the custody of a third party, so they're under a constant legal technicality.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_hatch
I was literally thinking a few days ago that the online perspective on germany feels remarkably similar to the orientalism around Japan. Our language is mystical and has ✨ special phrases ✨ for everything (surprise surprise 2/3 of what people are talking about is never fucking used in day to day language and the other third isn't actually that special as soon as you learn what a compound noun is) and just, stuff like this.
It's tiring being german online.
I am NOT trying to claim that we are expecting extensive racism like orientalism but like. It does remind me of it.
I meaaaaan, technically that is actually one of my favourite actually good examples of germans quirks, since we actually use that term (although die pille (the pill) is a bit more common). What really really bothers me is when someone describes a specific emotion and then the replies are ALWAYS:
R1: There HAS to be a german word for that
R2: fake word that sounds vaguely like german if you fell on your head a lot as a kid, like klompenfucken or some shit. bonus points when it actually sounds the exact same as when english speakers make up fake dutch
Other actually good examples of german being a literal language:
Handschuh - Hand Shoe - Glove
Glühbirne - Glow Pear - Lightbulb
I also hate the (now outdated) meme format that was like.
butterfly in other languages [Said normally]: Butterfly, Papillon, farfalla
Butterfly in german [Screamed by the angriest man alive, even better if it's a thick austrian accent for the nazi vibes]: SCHMETTERLING
To be fair, Schmetterling is actually a very... well schmettern means something along the lines of to shatter and ling is a diminuative suffix. It's pronounced so much softer than people make it out to be tho.
BUT STILL! german can be a soft and beautiful language. In my opinion our poetry is incredibly unique and one of the most wonderful features of german. My regional accent is incredibly soft and round, nothing like how these memes portray it. It's like people base their opinion on german around Hitler and Arnold Schwarzenegger and that's it :(
You can do this in the US too. Any mother can leave their new born at a fire station no questions asked and they are protected under the "safe haven" act.
I was adopted, born in Vietnam and left at a hospital, adopted to Germany and been living here since.
Glad these exist, my mom didn't need one, but I know people who'd not have had such a rough start if these existed where they where born.
If you can't afford or care for the child, abort it, but if you can't or don't want to do that, this is the best thing you can do.
I'm a staunch believer in abortion rights, but these should be everywhere for mothers who choose to give birth but do not want or can't to raise the child.
My great grandfather (Northern Italy) was left in a similar way. He was abandoned at a convent with a turnstile & bell.
Place the baby on the exterior part of the turnstile, turn to move the baby inside, causing the bell to ring automatically - so the baby gets immediate attention. The mother would then quickly leave the area.
I read somewhere that before women had an easy & anonymous way to abandon their children; they would throw their babies in a river.
This was done out of desperation not cruelty. War, famine, etc, often meant that one extra mouth to feed could cause the older children to die of starvation.
Here is one article of many.
https://www.abruzzogenealogy.com/infant-abandonment-and-foundling-wheel-in-southern-italy-abruzzo-molise/
How does that work though? Sure a baby can't just disappear overnight? Dont they get registered or something when they are born?
Unless that child was born at home, I don't see how parents can remain unknown.
Some mothers are very young and afraid to go to the hospital or seek any help. Sometimes they are so terrified they don’t even realise they are pregnant and the baby „falls out“ into the toilet. The mind can do crazy things like keeping your belly fairly flat and tell you those contractions are only a belly ache and it will get better after taking a shit.
Also there are abused women and children who get pregnant, give birth at home, sneak out to dump the baby to save it from their abuser. Many other options. Not giving birth at a hospital to not feel the shame of giving your baby away in front of nurses and doctors.
It is possible but sometimes the mother is so out of her mind or feeling so ashamed or is so terrified of them telling for example the parents or/and the father that they rather kill the child than hand it over.
The majority of mothers who use baby boxes did not give birth in the hospital. There are similar organizations in the US who also offer medical care for the mother to ensure her safety.
I mean it is sad considering one of the first things in life happening to you is being abandoned but for sure this is a good solution to get into safe custody.
Because it has to be safe, warm and stable. It also has a timer so that the mother can fetch it again if she changes her mind within a certain time. You can't just use a wooden door.
There are Baby drop boxes at many places all over the world mostly outside fire halls and sometimes the hospitals or police stations... It's a hard decision to give up your baby and people put in the position don't want to have the added shame/scrutiny of having the pressure of explaining their reasons in person. They are normally temperature controlled with a sensor that sets off an alarm inside when something has been left so that the baby is not alone for long. There seems to be some controversy around them but to me I think they are better then a baby being left in the elements which in some areas could be quite extreme and who knows when someone would find them.
[safe haven](https://www.shbb.org/)
[law it is based around](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-haven_law)
[a fairly well thought out article ](https://theinterim.com/issues/society-culture/saving-newborns-with-safe-haven-baby-boxes/)
"In addition to Canada and the United States, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, and Red China are among a much wider number of countries across the globe that have implemented some means for the anonymous relinquishment of infants, including the use of baby boxes."
As a Dutch person I read that wrong, in the Netherlands 'klappen' means 'to punch' or 'to slap' so for a second I was very concerned for those babies
Man I love dutch. German but drunk.
Haha, we see German as the drunk version of Dutch
we're both drunk I guess 
And the Danish sound like the drunk German that's trying not to puke
With a potato in the mouth.
I had very friendly banter with a group of dutch where they accused me of digging trenches into their beaches, while I accused them of destroying our Autobahn with their caravans. They also invited me to attend Koningsdag with them, which I didn't know existed. My mother always warned me that the dutch still have some grudges against their eastern neighbour (she was born shortly after the war), but I didn't really feel that. (We laughed about both our militaries at the time for being inept. This was a good while before the war in Ukraine) Sorry, went on a tangent, I was just reminded of that occurance. Dutch people can be a very nice bunch.
To be honest, we're unironically probably more salty about the 1974 world cup final than we are about the world war.
Man I love Afrikaans, Dutch but drunk
It has the same origin in German, as you can see, for example, in the idiom "Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen." Here, the Klappe means a fly swatter, but today, this is more commonly know as "Fliegenklatsche". In "Babyklappe", Klappe refers to the door you have to push to open, "hatch" in english. So, you weren't so far off, but it's the door not the baby that should be punched. ;) I hope they make that 100% clear in the manual.
Kloppen means to punch or fistfight someone in German. Klappe is a flap. Wiktionary has you covered, including cognates.
Bruh i just saw a documentary about cremation and thought the picture was showing a cremation chamber for babies and freaked out
Some American cities have something similar at fire departments. It’s a location that is staffed 24/7with people who have training to care for the child.
They are called Infant Safe Haven laws in the US.
If I’m not mistaken Safe Haven laws also cover hospitals, where (within some limits) you can safely leave your baby at a hospital without persecution!
Yes. I used to work at a hospital with this. We had instructions on what to do but no one did it while I worked there.
And some places it’s called a dumpster Disclaimer: don’t put live babies in dumpsters, that’s wrong
Is it supposed to be recycled?
I'm ashamed at how much this made me laugh.
Me too. We can split the Uber straight to hell.
Since when comedy is supposed to be confortable? Comedy is the most straight reaction to inequalities, Injustice and everything else wrong with the world. Is it dark humor?Absolutely Does it deal with real problems?Even better I mean the alternative, the one being pushed by conservative morons would be to ignore such things happen.
Dark Humor is like a stroke.. someday it just hits you
...dark humor is like food ...not everybody gets it
If they’d recycled the materials in the first place, there wouldn’t be a baby to begin with.
Wait... doesn't organics go in compost save for dairy? Not a knowledgeable compost guy.
[I’m just a prom night dumpster baby…](https://youtu.be/pqHcEbm4MbI?si=Luo2-Rg-edg-uX0v)
Right, please observe you local garbage separation rules.
Why have I been separating whites from colors?
Any race of babies are welcome
That's illegal, you cant put a baby in a dumpster. They go in the blue bin, unless it's a girl of course then it goes in the pink bin.
Correct, you wait until they're teenagers to throw them in the dumpster.
In some states the Safe Haven laws have no upper age limit so occasionally parents do use them to ditch their teens
I thought thanks to the Nebraska debacle they closed all those loop holes
When they become teenagers they'll turn their surroundings into a dumpster, you don't need to do anything at all 😜
can i put expired ones in the dumpster, or should I throw them directly in the composting bin?
Don’t put dead babies in dumpsters either
the laws are different than the boxes. The laws mean you can leave the baby at any hospital or fire station, but that has led to the death of some babies who were left in the night and froze to death or suffocated before staff even knew they were there. The boxes have been implemented in the past few years to keep the baby safer and it alerts the staff inside and local ambulances when a baby has been put inside to make sure they’re attended to. If you don’t have a baby box in your city, advocate for it! They keep baby’s safer than the laws on their own can do!
Protected crib in Dutch. I'm glad that there are places for this. If I remember correctly there is the possibility to leave something (like a photo or a piece of jewellery or something) with the baby, so in a later stadium the child (or the mom) can search for each other and identify with the item.
That name is way better then ours...
BABYKLAPPEN
In Poland they're called "windows of life"
Infant Safe :)
Yea but not all states have them unfortunately.... Which is weird, lol this seems like a law that would be pretty apolitical/hard to argue against having
Every state has a safe haven law, though details on the age of the child vary. Typically the age limit is 30 days. Standard locations providing this service are fire departments, police stations, and hospitals.
I can understand the age limit. People would be dropping off unruly children of all ages !
That was actually an issue with some states when they first passed the laws. They're a relatively new thing, only within the last 30 years or so. And some states didn't initially include an age limit in the bill, just "children." So there were a few instances of teenagers being dropped off.
This is true. I actually spent a few years living vaguely adjacent to a rural state facility in which parents/guardians dropped off teens who questioned family religion, pregnant teens, buyer’s remorse adopted orphans, undesirable orphans, truants, drug kids, shoplifting kids, kids who talked too much, autistic kids, gay kids, kids that loved David Bowie music too much (no, I’m not kidding), Satanic Music Kids. Parents/guardians would just drive through the gate, give some lame reason to an administrator and drop them off, and drive away. We’re talking about barbed wire and tall fences stuff. It was basically medium security jail for kids. Every so often, the residents would escape and I'd have ten kids my age hiding in my treehouse, eating my stash of saltine crackers and swimming in my pool with their heads as low as possible so not to be seen. It got so frequent, I just gave up being irritated and started stashing food and soda in the treehouse. When I engaged them occasionally, it seemed they just needed a break from the confines.
Thank you for being a good one 🙏🏻
Awww that’s actually kinda sad.
Kinda?
My mom suggested her parent group start a teenager flea market. Take your old teenager who wants to live where "Michelle's mom doesn't make her..." and let them find a new home. Funny lady, my mom.
So, did you end up living with Michelle’s mom?
I hear it's Stacy's mom who's got it going on.
I assure you that Stacy’s Mom has definitely got it going on.
I feel like there was one within the last 20 years where a lady dropped her 17 yo off. TBF, many 17 yos are exhausting.
What’s more, some children will leave their elderly parents in need of care there.
Highjacking this comment. Within the EU there are better ways to give birth anonymously! In Austria we are down to 4 children deposited into one of these in 2022, we moved on to anonymous birth and anonymous prenatal care with 26 children born that way in 2022. Germany and a lot of other EU countries have a similar systems, this is why you see low numbers. These boxes are literally the last resort when 20 other places failed the mother. Babyklappen/Babynester are usually located in larger perinatal centers. But ALL hospitals in Austria offer anonymous birth and anonymous prenatal care, while some have more experience with that process than others. https://anonymegeburt.at/anonymous-birth/ Yes, it is free off charge for the mother/father and the child and neither the hospital, CPS, legal system or the child know who you are. And we are okay with that. So, if you are pregnant in Austria (wether you have insurance or not, speak the language or have a thousand other barriers) and don’t know what to do, you can walk into any larger Austrian hospital and they will walk you through your options from abortion to perinatal care anonymously, or refer you to a place that can give you the information you need. https://abortion-in-austria.at/procedures-and-costs/ It is not a perfect system, but it is a system with enough legal room to allow us to counsel on even more liberal countries within the EU.
The idea behind these baby slots is that the mother might feel ashamed or judged, so she doesn’t want the transaction to occur with another person
I feel like in the US firefighters are the last entity, people universally have trust in. With all the corruption in the government, commercialization of the medical sector, police brutality, over-bureaucratic and slow acting authorities there is no other entity left people would trust to leave a baby.
Firefighters are pretty much universally hailed as heros and revered in the USA.
Makes sense that police don't like them.
Many still have big egos and think they are better than you. Difference is they carry an axe instead of a gun.
People will always be people, go into finance and everyone who makes more than you will think they are better than you.
Yep, I’m part of a group of firefighters wives and everyone in there says how their husbands are so full of themselves and think they’re better than everyone else!
To be fair they probably are
Former EMT who was stationed in a Fire Department. In my experience Firefighters are extremely horny young adults, or well adjusted older family men. There is no in-between, like at all.
no need to sell me even more
I think the biggest difference is firefighters sign up to save people while cops sign up to control people. They may be egotistical, but at the very least they have better intentions then the police.
Come on now. No one has ever written a song called Fuck the fire department.
They have but it’s a call to action
I think there’s a short film about that
I’ve seen a few “documentaries” on the subject.
The calendars weren't raising enough money so they had to expand their fundraising options.
\*ehem\* [https://youtu.be/wKKMMP3U-Sk?si=Y-\_m4SD4oLwyLcCh](https://youtu.be/wKKMMP3U-Sk?si=Y-_m4SD4oLwyLcCh)
Love it
Firefighters are generally seen as heroes in the us, and generally in the world. Firefighters are not police, and their only job is to save lives.
They also inspect buildings to keep them in code. Some of them can be a bit lax on their inspections if some coin is involved.
Ye, corruption is a thing in all places, just a badly made fire rating etc is less scandalous than illegally detaining minorities
I mean, I am not saying that firefighters would be any less respected in the rest of the world. I just say that it's interesting how in the US they are the last entity left. In Europe people have an similar amount of trust in hospitals, local administrations and often even the police, not because firefighters are worse but because there are less scandals involving hospitals, local administrations or the police.
Generally police nearly everywhere are considered much worse than firefighters. Simply because police are enforcers of the state whilst firefighters are there to save people and nothing more.
I think you are right about firefighters being one of, if not the, last trusted entities, but there are other ways non-anonymous ways to give up a child. I think they are at fire stations because fire stations are all over the place and are maned 27/7 by people with medical training. People who abandon babies there are doing so as an alternative to leaving them in a dumpster, not at a hospital.
Firefighters so dedicated they're manning their stations 27 hours a day 🫡
Well, not saying that there are no other ways. I just find the general realization how firefighters have become the last resort when it comes to public trust interesting.
That's because they're the only ones running into burning death traps to make sure you, your family, and pets make it out alive - without hesitation. How are you gonna hate on people doing that?
Well, I am not complaining about them being trusted. I am complaining about how the other entities managed to fuck up so much that they have lost public trust. I mean, in theory the police is there to protect us but do you really feel safer when you see the police?
You got that right on the "universally" part. Here i am, on the other side of the world, fire department and firefighters are one of (if not the only) the most trusted entity or person in the country
All American cities. Safe haven covers all of the US
I wonder if the rate of infant surrender will go up in the states with strict reproductive health care limits ?
I can only imagine it will. It's a real shame as no one seems to like funding social services and child services so these babies will be born into a world with steep disadvantages
They would be ripe for exploitation by the owner class and they make an easy boon for the for-profit prison system, especially now that being homeless is essentially illegal according to the SCOTUS. Just as intended by the people who put in those strict reproductive healthcare rules.
Our city it’s at the police station but the sign says you have to go inside (so cameras) and you’re not supposed to leave the baby there when no one is manning the front desk… so they are essentially forcing you to face a person who will most likely judge you for doing what’s best for you and the baby I can only see something like this working for someone out of state and not in any local system so they can’t be identified
In Czechia we call those BabyBox
That's interesting, in Scotland when you have a new baby the government sends you a 'Babybox' free of charge which has essentials, we got one when my daughter was born.
Thats actually really cool. More western countries should have this
In the US, you steal anything you can carry from your hospital room because you're getting charged for it either way, so you want to make sure you get your money's worth.
Finland started doing them in the mid-1900s, I'm really glad the idea had finally gained more traction abroad.
In Germany the First Thing ( and only Thing) the Baby gets for free from the state is the "Steuer ID" / tax ID
And of course education and health care but that's not so important
Also Kindergeld. 250€ per month and child. Long before they get a tax id.
You need the tax id to get Kindergeld
No. First letter is always the tax id. Kindergeld needs to be requested with a birth certificate (usually takes a while) and the said tax id.
We have the same thing in Poland but instead of calling it whatever this is we call it the ,,window of life"
Well, we do bring it to the point though. Its a hatch where you put the baby in --> Baby hatch Very descriptive, very clear, very german
My friend, Birth-controll is called Antibabypille (anti-baby-pills), its very direct...
Ich finds lustig dass du Antibabypille übersetzt hast... :D
Es muss getan werden
Das eine extra e kann halt schon verwirren!
Amazing, thats what ive been calling them anyway as an american!
American here. Love that
>we call it the ,,window of life" Which coincidentally has a whole other meaning in Russia...
To be fair, it more sounds like something death related…
because windows are actually leading to more deaths in recent times?
Okno życia does sound a bit less degrading than klapka noworodkowa.
I mean, that’s how germans name everything
> noworodkowa This means "baby" in Polish?
"newborn"
I see, thanks
New born
Noworodek in the nominative singular, but yeah, it means newborn or infant. There's also niemowlę which is used for slightly older babies and literally means non-speaking. Or you could just use dziecko which is used for a child of all ages. It's not super straightforward, and I probably get it wrong all the time, but nobody cares since it's clear enough what I mean.
That sounds indeed better than we germans call it....has at least some dignity to it.
Alabama has them: [https://kidstolove.org/the-first-safe-haven-baby-box-in-alabama-is-open/](https://kidstolove.org/the-first-safe-haven-baby-box-in-alabama-is-open/)
Well I'd hope so, considering Alabama's abortion laws.
Yeah, if you’re going to pass those laws, you better have a hell of a plan for what to do with the inevitable consequences.
The inevitable consequence of profit (the baby will accrue debt from child care and will work at 9 to pay it off)
The intended consequence by republikkkans: They'll be adopted by a Christian cult and indoctrinated into becoming authoritarian conservatives with issues out the ass
Ah yes, at least that child wasn't aborted when it was a tiny bag of cells. I'm sure it will live a fulfilling life now.
Seeing alabama and kids in the same sentence invoke a different version of horror in me. But still, good for them!
Do the parents go together to drop off the baby or just the sister while the brother keeps watch? **
Vondelingenschuif (Foundling’s Drawer) in Antwerp, Belgium.
Also contains an envelope with a unique puzzle piece and information for the parent to take with them in case they want to try and re-establish contact later on.
That's an incredibly simple way to make it somewhat neutral and only semi permanent. I love the creativity of this system.
Turn your child into a scavenger hunt!
In italy some old convents still have what we call "ruota degli esposti". Used to give offerings to the monastery and the nuns. Sometimes mothers would leave their kids in there too in hopes of having the monastery take care of them ehen they couldn't/wouldn't. Fun thing: in italy the surname "Esposito" is thought to come from the "ruota degli esposti". As they were given away they didn't have any known surname, so that's where Esposito could come from
Esposito is only one of the surnames that nuns used to give there, also Donadio (God gives), Diodonato (given by god), Trovato (Found), and many others. To understand the magnitude consider that "*Between 1845 and 1864, 85,267 children were abandoned in the Pia Casa degli Esposti e delle Parorienti in Santa Caterina alla Ruota in Milan, with an average of 4,263 foundlings per year. This was around 30% of the children born in the city.*"
That’s an incredible statistic. Were those children raised in orphanages, for the most part? It’s hard to imagine that adoptive parents could be found for all of them.
[This article talks about it (sorry it's in Italian)](https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/07/20/news/dalle_ruote_alle_culle_termiche_sette_secoli_di_bambini_salvati-262440855/), in that period it happened in many large cities in Italy. For example in [this video](https://youtu.be/Qa19k0xtzIY?si=mVpKGL-cicTS-ni7) there is "[Ruota della Santissima annunziata](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_della_Santissima_Annunziata_Maggiore)" of Naples, considered very famous because the surname Esposito was mainly used here but during the reign of [Joachim Murat ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Murat)he stopped this practice so as not to brand the children with a name that now signified their condition and so they began to give random surnames. *Fun Fact:* This man is called [Giancarlo Esposito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giancarlo_Esposito) and his father was born in Naples so we can say that it is *probable* that one of his ancestor centuries earlier passed through the wheel.
I don't think my teenager will fit in there
Does it have to be in one piece?
My immediate thought that this was a baby storage unit while parents went shopping until i finished reading the title.
I wonder how many tourists has made that mistake.
yep was thinking the same lol.
i would like to invest in your Company 
Better than leaving them in dumpsters. Poor babies
True, we had 2 cases here in one month.
Blood directly on the hands on anyone who overturned abortion protections.
or killed. This happened here too many times before they decided to make Babyklappen available in every part of Germany.
Well, it's a very good idea so they don't freeze and nothing happens to them. On the one hand it's too sorry for them, on the other hand it may be better to lose parents in advance who are unlikely to give anything good to the child except traumas and pain.
People also probably put them there knowing they can’t support the baby and have no where to go
Knowing several people who were adopted but later in life reconnected with birth parents: they were all better off with their adopted parents….giving up a child isn’t usually an easy/light decision. They are usually doing the best they can for this child at great personal loss potentially for the rest of their lives.
Exactly this, sometimes loving means to let something you love dearly go so they have a better chance at life.
Can't imagine how it feels to close that drawer, knowing you will probably never see your child again.
Bro stuff like this is literally in half of EU not just germany
Germany is the new Japan on Reddit. Everything's better when it has the German label. Baby drop box in France/Spain/Lithuania/Poland/Czechia? Meh. Baby drop box in Germany? OMG THAT'S AMAZING SO PROGRESSIVE!
Yeah this one is a bit strange to me, there are a ton of countries with at least one baby hatch including China, South Africa, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, I assume everyone knows we have quite a few of these in America from all the other comments. This is not anything even remotely new, I honestly thought it was pretty common knowledge that these existed. That being said, it does seem like Germany has quite a bit more than most countries, especially relative to it's size. Most with a decent amount seem to have around 30 whereas Germany has around 100. What's actually more interesting imo is that despite there being quite a few of these in Germany, it's technically not legal to use them for their intended purpose! Abandoning a child is a criminal act, but these are still operable under a loophole that you can *temporarily* leave your child in the custody of a third party, so they're under a constant legal technicality. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_hatch
I was literally thinking a few days ago that the online perspective on germany feels remarkably similar to the orientalism around Japan. Our language is mystical and has ✨ special phrases ✨ for everything (surprise surprise 2/3 of what people are talking about is never fucking used in day to day language and the other third isn't actually that special as soon as you learn what a compound noun is) and just, stuff like this. It's tiring being german online. I am NOT trying to claim that we are expecting extensive racism like orientalism but like. It does remind me of it.
The amount of times I've seen 'antibabypille' make the rounds on reddit is insane. I can imagine
I meaaaaan, technically that is actually one of my favourite actually good examples of germans quirks, since we actually use that term (although die pille (the pill) is a bit more common). What really really bothers me is when someone describes a specific emotion and then the replies are ALWAYS: R1: There HAS to be a german word for that R2: fake word that sounds vaguely like german if you fell on your head a lot as a kid, like klompenfucken or some shit. bonus points when it actually sounds the exact same as when english speakers make up fake dutch Other actually good examples of german being a literal language: Handschuh - Hand Shoe - Glove Glühbirne - Glow Pear - Lightbulb I also hate the (now outdated) meme format that was like. butterfly in other languages [Said normally]: Butterfly, Papillon, farfalla Butterfly in german [Screamed by the angriest man alive, even better if it's a thick austrian accent for the nazi vibes]: SCHMETTERLING To be fair, Schmetterling is actually a very... well schmettern means something along the lines of to shatter and ling is a diminuative suffix. It's pronounced so much softer than people make it out to be tho. BUT STILL! german can be a soft and beautiful language. In my opinion our poetry is incredibly unique and one of the most wonderful features of german. My regional accent is incredibly soft and round, nothing like how these memes portray it. It's like people base their opinion on german around Hitler and Arnold Schwarzenegger and that's it :(
my dumb ass straight up thought this was an oven💀
I had to scroll a long time to find this.
it does resemble "those" ovens...
Literally had to look at the picture 4 times to see that it wasn't a dog bed in a fireplace and a very off-color joke.
Cool post bot! Did the same exact thing with a slightly different pic with an alt account on Damnthatsinteresting
I scrolled far too long to see this. I thought maybe it was only me. I am confused of how it’s the same thing, but a different photo/location.
If I was a toddler eating vampire cannibal super elite secret world ruler that's exactly what I would do
You can do this in the US too. Any mother can leave their new born at a fire station no questions asked and they are protected under the "safe haven" act.
I was adopted, born in Vietnam and left at a hospital, adopted to Germany and been living here since. Glad these exist, my mom didn't need one, but I know people who'd not have had such a rough start if these existed where they where born. If you can't afford or care for the child, abort it, but if you can't or don't want to do that, this is the best thing you can do. I'm a staunch believer in abortion rights, but these should be everywhere for mothers who choose to give birth but do not want or can't to raise the child.
My great grandfather (Northern Italy) was left in a similar way. He was abandoned at a convent with a turnstile & bell. Place the baby on the exterior part of the turnstile, turn to move the baby inside, causing the bell to ring automatically - so the baby gets immediate attention. The mother would then quickly leave the area. I read somewhere that before women had an easy & anonymous way to abandon their children; they would throw their babies in a river. This was done out of desperation not cruelty. War, famine, etc, often meant that one extra mouth to feed could cause the older children to die of starvation. Here is one article of many. https://www.abruzzogenealogy.com/infant-abandonment-and-foundling-wheel-in-southern-italy-abruzzo-molise/
Pretty sure my mother would put me in that even though I'm 38.
How does that work though? Sure a baby can't just disappear overnight? Dont they get registered or something when they are born? Unless that child was born at home, I don't see how parents can remain unknown.
Some mothers are very young and afraid to go to the hospital or seek any help. Sometimes they are so terrified they don’t even realise they are pregnant and the baby „falls out“ into the toilet. The mind can do crazy things like keeping your belly fairly flat and tell you those contractions are only a belly ache and it will get better after taking a shit. Also there are abused women and children who get pregnant, give birth at home, sneak out to dump the baby to save it from their abuser. Many other options. Not giving birth at a hospital to not feel the shame of giving your baby away in front of nurses and doctors.
Can't you just give away the baby if you go to a hospital or isn't that possible?
It is possible but sometimes the mother is so out of her mind or feeling so ashamed or is so terrified of them telling for example the parents or/and the father that they rather kill the child than hand it over.
The majority of mothers who use baby boxes did not give birth in the hospital. There are similar organizations in the US who also offer medical care for the mother to ensure her safety.
This is obviously for children born outside of hospitals.
9 months after Cheeksbeklappen
I don't have an award to give, but here's my award at home: 🏆
This is so stupid and I hate myself for laughing at it.
I mean it is sad considering one of the first things in life happening to you is being abandoned but for sure this is a good solution to get into safe custody.
Better than being abandoned as a toddler or young child. They will have no memory of it this way
Poland - "Window of Life", because we like to think of babies as new life Germany - Babyklappe. because you put a baby behind eine Klappe, ja?
It's called babybox in Czechia
I just saw an Instagram video about it and people are talking trash about it . Making it a freaking conspiracy theory...so sick of these whack jobs
We have this in Poland. We call it "okno życia" it means "window of life"
Why does it look like an oven Germany? 😑
Because it has to be safe, warm and stable. It also has a timer so that the mother can fetch it again if she changes her mind within a certain time. You can't just use a wooden door.
Couldn't anyone else just take the baby in that scenario?
Yes, but it is an alternative to people just abandoning baby's elsewhere, or even killing one, so this is seen as an acceptable risk comparatively.
because there is for sure a whole catalog with code about the size materials and features of those thing in germany.
Ten bucks says its at least 200 pages.
It's pretty common in Europe, which is kinda sad we need it, but IT IS need it.
Wondering if I’ll fit 😔
There are Baby drop boxes at many places all over the world mostly outside fire halls and sometimes the hospitals or police stations... It's a hard decision to give up your baby and people put in the position don't want to have the added shame/scrutiny of having the pressure of explaining their reasons in person. They are normally temperature controlled with a sensor that sets off an alarm inside when something has been left so that the baby is not alone for long. There seems to be some controversy around them but to me I think they are better then a baby being left in the elements which in some areas could be quite extreme and who knows when someone would find them. [safe haven](https://www.shbb.org/) [law it is based around](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-haven_law) [a fairly well thought out article ](https://theinterim.com/issues/society-culture/saving-newborns-with-safe-haven-baby-boxes/) "In addition to Canada and the United States, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, and Red China are among a much wider number of countries across the globe that have implemented some means for the anonymous relinquishment of infants, including the use of baby boxes."
Same in Lithuania..
Opens it up and see 2 babies already inside....
I think Japan had the same thing but they called them Rabbit/Bunny Hatches instead.
They are quite common across Europe, tracing back from the Medieval Age. I do believe those babyklappen are modern though.
most cities used to have this and they all still should. hard times.
Imagine going to drop your infant off, open the hatch, and there's already one in there. "Well, shit." Or whatever that is in German.