The "baby box" returns to Europe

At the box in Berlin, she said, there was safety backed by the full facilities of a maternity unit. Once a baby is in the hatch, an alarm rings and medical staff come, even as the mother walks away unseen. The baby is cared for in the hospital and then fostered before going into the legal system for adoption. In the early period, mothers can return and retrieve their child, but later they can’t – adoption is final.

But some mothers do return. One told the BBC how she had been in despair when her child was born. The father was absent, and she was young and in a state of numb shock, so she took the route down the path – and then changed her mind barely a week later.

She followed the advice in the letter she had found in the hatch and returned. She said that, for the first time, she had realised it was her baby. She noticed his hair and eyes, and realised she couldn’t give him away. Today, she returns to the unit with pictures of the child she now brings up. The baby box had given her time for her confusion to clear.