Who checks on the mother?… baby dumping more than meets the eye

As we mark a month dedicated to celebrating mothers, I cannot help but reflect on the story that made headlines: a woman who allegedly dumped her twins in a riverbed. Newspapers are often filled with similar reports of babies abandoned in riverbeds, dumped in pit latrines, left in plastic bags, or found behind buildings.

Society often responds with outrage before compassion, asking, “How could a mother do this?” But perhaps the harder question, and the one too few people ask, is ‘What happened to that mother before she reached such a desperate moment?’

Baby dumping is not simply a criminal issue. It is a social, economic, mental health, and human dignity crisis. It is a mirror reflecting how societies treat vulnerable women, especially poor women, young women, survivors of abuse, and mothers facing overwhelming emotional distress.