Since 2001, it has been possible in Austria to give birth to a baby anonymously in a hospital. The child is then usually placed with adoptive parents. Children not born in a hospital who wish to be given away anonymously can also be placed in hospital baby hatches. However, the anonymous birth was brought forward because of the medical care for mother and child and was used 35 times across Austria last year, the baby hatches not at all.
If the birth was anonymous, it is also possible to return the child
With an anonymous birth, medical pre- and post-natal care for the mother is also possible without having to provide a name or other personal information. This automatically means clearance for adoption, the Ministry of Health informs on its portal gesundheit.gv.at. After the birth, the youth welfare office or youth welfare agency takes over the care of the child and passes it on to foster or adoptive parents.
The mother has six months to revoke the clearance for adoption. To do this, they must report to the youth welfare office and give their name. In this case, the anonymous birth is considered like a normal birth. The women then receive psychological care and support.
Currently 16 baby hatches in Austria
Women who give birth to their child without medical care have the option of leaving the newborn in a baby hatch (also called a baby nest) in one of 16 hospitals currently equipped with this. Only in Burgenland does this not exist in any of the hospitals. A list of baby hatches can also be found at gesundheit.gv.at. The newborn can be placed in a warm bed through a window or flap. Access to and exit from the baby hatch is possible unobserved.
Immediately afterwards, an alarm is raised by the hospital service and the baby is taken out of the flap and cared for. The youth welfare office will then be informed. With the baby hatch, mothers also have six months to register and accept their child. Otherwise the child will be put up for adoption. There is often an information sheet with a code word in the baby flap. With this code, the mother can anonymously discover how her child is doing.
145 anonymous births in five years
The option of anonymous birth has been used 145 times in Austria in the past five years, data from Statistics Austria shows. There were 35 anonymous births in the previous year, 26 in 2022, 32 in 2021, 24 in the year before and 28 anonymous births in 2019. The baby hatches remained empty in 2023. In previous years, they were each used two to four times to deliver newborns.
