Remember when you used to slip your rented videos into Blockbuster's after-hours drop box? You can do the same thing with your unwanted child!
Last year, a hospital in Japan created the "Stork's Cradle," a hatch that contains an incubator where people can safely leave unwanted newborns. The initiative was a response to several incidents in which babies were abandoned in parks or supermarkets. Since it was launched, 17 children have been left in the "baby drop box." (Interesting detail: One of them was a pre-schooler. Obviously it's not cool to abandon a child, but one you've already raised for three or four years? That's just stone cold.)
Of course, this isn't the first time such a thing has occurred. Churches and shelters in Italy, for example, have been going the drop box route for centuries, upgrading to the incubator model a few years ago.
As disturbing as the notion of sticking a kid through a slot might sound, these boxes actually do a service. Rather than finding these infants after they've been outside for hours, medical personnel and social workers are able to immediately respond to them, keep them healthy, then help them find happy homes.
Of course, you know what this means. Pretty soon someone will create a Mommy and Daddy Drop Box. If they do, let's hope the kids never figure out how to use it.
Photo: Fox News
