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Agence France-PresseJune 1, 2013 01:33

Germany's "baby hatches", where women can safely leave their unwanted newborn, have come under fire as the government pushes a new law to guarantee a child the right to eventually know its mother's identity. At a Berlin clinic, a discreet path winds through springtime flowerbeds to a sign that simply directs visitors to the "Baby Crib" -- a steel hatch that opens onto a heated cot where an infant can be left. "An alarm goes off for several seconds," says Gabriele Stangl of the Protestant Church-run Waldfriede hospital in the capital's leafy, residential Zehlendorf district.

Kindergarten teachers to face stronger punishment for child abuse

Yonhap News AgencyMay 30, 2013 01:31

SEOUL, May 30 (Yonhap) -- Kindergarten teachers who are caught abusing children will face stronger punishment such as a 10-year ban on establishing or working at childcare centers, the ruling party said Thursday. The measures, announced by the government earlier this month, plan to be introduced into law before the end of this year, the Saenuri Party said in a press release following a meeting with relevant government officials. The current punishment for child abuse is a maximum three-year ban on establishing or working at childcare centers.

Mothers are breadwinners for growing share of U.S. families

Thomson ReutersMay 29, 2013 15:52

(Reuters) - Mothers are the primary or sole source of income for a growing number of U.S. families in a dramatic shift in American homes and the workplace since the 1960s, the Pew Research Center said in a study released on Wednesday. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the study said a record 40 percent of all U.S. households with children relied on mothers as their main or only source of income. That marked a sharp increase from 11 percent of families in 1960.

Risky behaviour starts young on web

Agence France-PresseMay 22, 2013 05:00

Australian children are accessing social media websites at an increasingly younger age, a new survey suggests, with one in five "tweens" admitting they have chatted to someone online they do not know. The report "Tweens, Teens and Technology" by online security company McAfee found that children in the tweens age category of eight to 12 were adopting technology faster than expected, with 67 percent using a social media website.

Canada has second-highest rate of first-day infant deaths in industrialized world: report

The Canadian PressMay 7, 2013 22:40

TORONTO, ONTARIO, - Babies born in Canada have a surprisingly high likelihood of dying on the day of their birth, a new study suggested Tuesday. A report from international aid organization Save the Children assessed infant mortality data from 176 countries worldwide, focusing specifically on how many newborns are able to survive beyond their first day out of the womb. The report said Canada had the second-highest rate of first-day infant mortality in the industrialized world, with roughly 900 babies _ or 2.4 per 1,000 births _ ending in early tragedy.

DR Congo named worst place to be mother

Agence France-PresseMay 7, 2013 05:45

The Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday displaced fellow African nation Niger to gain the unenviable distinction of being the worst place in the world to be a mother, according to the annual report of Save the Children. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa took up each of the bottom 10 places for the first time in the 14 years that the report has been produced. In contrast, Finland took the top spot, with its Nordic neighbours filling the other leading positions.

300,000 day-old babies die each year in India

Agence France-PresseMay 7, 2013 00:30

More than 300,000 babies die within 24 hours of being born in India each year from infections and other preventable causes, a report said Tuesday, blaming a lack of political will and funding for the crisis. India accounts for 29 percent of all newborn deaths worldwide, according to the charity Save the Children which published the findings at the launch of its annual State of the World's Mothers report. The report on 186 countries showed South Asia -- which accounts for 24 percent of the world's population -- recording 40 percent of the world's first-day deaths.

DRC is the world's worst place to be a mother: Save the Children

Agence France-PresseMay 7, 2013 00:30

"If women are educated, are represented politically, and have access to good quality maternal and child care, then they and their children are much more likely to survive and thrive - and so are the societies they live in."

Baby delivery: safe haven baby drop-off sites open in Edmonton hospitals

The Canadian PressMay 6, 2013 15:15

EDMONTON - A door in the wall opens to a cupboard-like space, just big enough for a tiny baby. Inside there's a plastic bassinet containing a hand-knit blanket, a brown teddy bear and an information card. "Your baby will be safe and you will be safe," it reads. The site is one of two that opened Monday at hospitals in Edmonton where overwhelmed parents can abandon their newborn babies — no questions asked.

Mum and dad equally good at recognising baby's cry

Agence France-PresseApril 16, 2013 11:16

French researchers on Tuesday dealt a blow to folklore that says mothers are better than fathers in recognising their baby's cry. The "maternal instinct" notion gained scientific backing more than three decades ago through two experiments, one of which found that women were nearly twice as accurate as men in identifying the cry of their offspring. But the new study says men and women are equally skilled at this -- and accuracy depends simply on the amount of time that a parent spends with the child.