Geburt anonym

Are you pregnant and in a personal emergency? If so, you can contact an advice center in your area or the free emergency hotline for pregnant women and mothers with newborns in distress for help.

There are always cases in which women do not admit a pregnancy to themselves or those around them due to an emergency situation. Or they do not want to seek help for fear of the pregnancy being discovered. Reasons for this may be that underage women are afraid of their parents or massive violence from their partner, women are living illegally in Germany, women are homeless, women are under pressure due to extreme cultural or ideological constraints or are in an emergency situation that seems hopeless. Giving up a child anonymously is a serious decision for any mother, one that is only considered in a completely hopeless situation.

What is the difference between a baby hatch and an anonymous birth?

In a baby hatch (also known as a "baby window", "baby basket" or similar), a newborn baby can be delivered anonymously. It slides into a heated bed, where an electronic signal ensures that the child is cared for immediately. However, no one looks after the mother. She is alone, both medically and with her problems.

The anonymous birth proceeds like a "normal" clinical birth, but without the woman giving birth revealing her identity to the maternity clinic. The child and mother receive medical care. The mother can still receive advice and support with her decision at the hospital if she wishes. She is safe from pressure from other people.

In both cases, the biological mother has the option of providing information about the child's origins without revealing her own name. Under notarization law, the child is treated as a person with an uncertain civil status. The competent administrative authority (district, independent city) then determines the place of birth and date of birth as well as the first name and surname to be entered in the register of births by the registry office.

In the case of anonymous births and baby hatches, the child will first receive medical care. At the same time, the youth welfare office will work with the staff at the baby drop - independently in the case of anonymous birth - to ensure that the child is suitably accommodated and cared for. Finally, the child is placed in so-called adoptive care. This means that the child is placed with a suitable family who would like to adopt it.

You can get information from an advice center near you or at www.familienplanung.de.

There is also a free emergency hotline for pregnant women and mothers with newborns in distress, which can be reached free of charge around the clock nationwide on

0800-456 0 789.

There are a number of agencies that can help in the run-up to the birth. In particular, the state-wide pregnancy and pregnancy conflict advice centers offer immediate free advice and support in an emergency and provide information on material and psychological help. You can find the Rhineland-Palatinate pregnancy counseling centers and pregnancy conflict counseling centers using the online search. They guarantee anonymity and can therefore be visited without hesitation. The individual baby hatch operators also offer advice and help themselves, as they see the use of the baby hatch as the last option for placing a child in safe care.