Authorities says there will be no charges against woman over Baby 59, the newborn boy dropped down toilet. A nurse checks on Baby
59 (Pictued Above). The child has been released back into his mother's care, say
Chinese authorities, after police determined the woman should not be
charged for dropping him down a toilet.
The mother of a newborn baby rescued from a sewer pipe in eastern China will not face criminal charges and will retain custody of her son, authorities in China have said.
The case of the little boy – known only as Baby 59 – sparked a wave of sympathy around the world when footage of his rescue by firefighters and medics emerged. At first officials in Pujiang county, Zhejiang province, said they were treating it as attempted murder, believing he had been dumped by his parents.
But they have concluded that he was trapped by accident after it emerged that a woman who raised the alarm was in fact his mother. The unmarried 22-year-old had hidden her pregnancy and secretly delivered the baby on Saturday in the shared bathroom; she said he had slipped into the squat toilet by accident.
An official in Pujiang county's propaganda office told Associated Press on Thursday that police concluded the unwed woman did not initially identify herself as the mother out of fright.
Authorities said the little boy, who suffered minor cuts and bruises but is otherwise healthy, had been released from hospital into the care of his mother and a man claiming to be his father. Wellwishers had inundated officials with offers to adopt him.
"Even if some other people wanted to adopt this baby, since his mother is still there it would be a very complicated and hard process for other people to adopt him," said Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the independent 21st Century Education Research Institute.
But he said her care would not be supervised by social workers, as would be expected in other places. "The baby returns to her. This case is done," he said.
"This case shows our child protection law is struggling … If the government removes the baby from its parents they should take responsibility for caring for the baby. But the government's allocated funds are limited and charity organisations can only receive a certain number of children when their parents cannot be found.
"If the children have parents, the government prefer to ask their parents to take the responsibility. The local government does not have enough funding to establish a social security system to help those children, when their parents are not doing a good job."
Local media earlier reported that the woman became pregnant after a one-night stand and that the father had denied paternity. She told Police officials she could not afford an abortion and hid her pregnancy from her parents.
While premarital sex is common in China, unmarried motherhood still bears a stigma. Critics say sex education is inadequate.
The case of the little boy – known only as Baby 59 – sparked a wave of sympathy around the world when footage of his rescue by firefighters and medics emerged. At first officials in Pujiang county, Zhejiang province, said they were treating it as attempted murder, believing he had been dumped by his parents.
But they have concluded that he was trapped by accident after it emerged that a woman who raised the alarm was in fact his mother. The unmarried 22-year-old had hidden her pregnancy and secretly delivered the baby on Saturday in the shared bathroom; she said he had slipped into the squat toilet by accident.
An official in Pujiang county's propaganda office told Associated Press on Thursday that police concluded the unwed woman did not initially identify herself as the mother out of fright.
Authorities said the little boy, who suffered minor cuts and bruises but is otherwise healthy, had been released from hospital into the care of his mother and a man claiming to be his father. Wellwishers had inundated officials with offers to adopt him.
"Even if some other people wanted to adopt this baby, since his mother is still there it would be a very complicated and hard process for other people to adopt him," said Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the independent 21st Century Education Research Institute.
But he said her care would not be supervised by social workers, as would be expected in other places. "The baby returns to her. This case is done," he said.
"This case shows our child protection law is struggling … If the government removes the baby from its parents they should take responsibility for caring for the baby. But the government's allocated funds are limited and charity organisations can only receive a certain number of children when their parents cannot be found.
"If the children have parents, the government prefer to ask their parents to take the responsibility. The local government does not have enough funding to establish a social security system to help those children, when their parents are not doing a good job."
Local media earlier reported that the woman became pregnant after a one-night stand and that the father had denied paternity. She told Police officials she could not afford an abortion and hid her pregnancy from her parents.
While premarital sex is common in China, unmarried motherhood still bears a stigma. Critics say sex education is inadequate.
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