Omar Sherifedeen Hessen, the Director of the Social Welfare Directorate, Central Equatoria State speaks to Eye Radio. (Charles Wote/Eye Radio).

The Directorate of Social Welfare in Central Equatoria State said Thursday that it recorded five cases of abandoned newborn babies from September to October 2023.

Omar Sherifedeen Hessen, the Director of the Social Welfare Directorate said two of the abandoned children were reunited with their families.

The remaining three toddlers are being taken care of the Directorate, Sherifedeen said.

“From 10^th September to 5^th October the number of abandoned children that we recorded are five in this five we found mothers of two babies we use our own ways to find the mothers but the three are still on search,” he told Eye Radio.

According to him, a mother to one of the abandoned children whom he declined to name, was traced with the help of a boda-boda rider who saw her throwing her baby into a bush at the Gurei suburb.

“We found one mother in Gurei North, and it was a boda-boda rider who found her, when she [mother] threw the child in the garbage place she stopped a boda and the boda saw her when throwing something, but he did not know it was a child,” Sherifedeen said.

“The boda rider went to his normal stand in Kubri Habuba, then he saw a man coming with a child covered in the same cloth he saw the women throwing. So, he told the police that he knows the house of the woman who threw the baby, so we went to the house at first the mother denied but we checked her and found that she is lactating.”

Omar blamed the rising cases of abandoned newborn babies on social issues and family breakdowns. The official further warned that the act is criminal.

“Child right says a child must stay with the mother and the father. Our difference with the police is that they think it’s a crime but in social welfare we say, yes, it’s a crime but the causes are social issues either the girl left the house or one of the relatives impregnated her.”