The establishment of an Abandoned Children’s Home and Shelter by the Enugu State Government inside the premises of the Family Support Programme (FSP) along Enugu Abakiliki Road about five years ago, elicited joy among members of the public, particularly social workers.
The jubilation followed strong conviction by the people that this development would give hope and comfort to abandoned babies in the state.
Although many orphanage homes were in existence before the establishment of the Enugu abandoned children home, not a few believed then that the old homes were not? enough to cater for the needs of abandoned orphans.
They, therefore, concluded then that the new centre would reduce pressure mounted on the existing old orphanage homes occasioned by alarming rate of child abandonment in the state.
Besides, they believed then that children that would be kept in the home would look healthier than those in motherless babies’ homes established by Non Governmental Organisations and Churches.
Currently, about eight abandoned babies are in the custody of the state-owned home which is relatively unknown to people of Enugu State despite its location in a strategic area.
Four out of the eight babies, four have cerebral palsy, one has epileptic while the medical records of the remaining children were yet to be ascertained as at the time of filling this report.
LEADERSHIP gathered that about four babies have died since the home was established about five years ago.
Our investigations revealed that most of the babies were abandoned in the churches by their parents while one of them was thrown into the toilet bucket by the mother.
While dropping their babies in the church, some parents of the abandoned babies had also dropped letters in which they expressed their inability to continue coping with their babies’ disabilities.?
It was also gathered that one of the deformed babies was abandoned in a church in Enugu while prayers were ongoing.
A source told our correspondent that the mother of the about one year old baby reportedly handed? over the baby to another woman while the prayers were going and claimed that she wanted to urinate.? But she never returned to the church to pick her baby.
The little baby, it was further learnt, was later taken to the Abandoned Children’s Home by the authorities of the church.
Another baby in the new home identified as Chidiebere was reportedly tortured by her mother described as having mental problem, who later threw him into a bucket toilet where he went blind.
Unfortunately, the babies who survived the inhuman treatment meted to them by their mothers appear not to be out of the woods in the Enugu State-owned orphanage home where they are kept. They are said to be facing serious starvation occasioned by alleged negligence.
It was also gathered that the home is lacking virtually all the basic materials needed to make the babies comfortable.
Worse still, the Enugu Abandoned Babies’ Home, our investigations revealed, is not adequately funded by the state government, a development which has compounded the problems of the centre.
LEADERSHIP learnt that majority of the workers in the home have resigned following the pitiable condition of the children as well as non- appreciation of their selfless services .
Efforts made by our correspondent to get official reactions from the management of the home proved abortive.
But a source in the home appealed to Non Governmental Organizations (NG0s) to come to the aid of the home, saying that “ there are enormous work to done in the centre”.