Confronting Newborn Abandonment in Ghana: WHEN A CRY FOR HELP IS HEARD IN A DUSTBIN - By Counselor Prince Offei
"A woman who abandons her baby in a dustbin at Kasoa Lorry Station is not always a wicked woman. Sometimes, she is a wounded woman whose mind has broken, whose family has rejected her, and whose society has left her with only one terrible option: disappear or be disgraced." - Counselor Prince Offei
That is the hard truth Ghana must hear.
In the last 2 months alone, our nation has been confronted with the same painful headline, twice.
Case 1 - Kasoa Main Lorry Station, Central Region: A newborn baby girl was found abandoned inside a dustbin at the public toilet of the Kasoa Main Station. A woman who went to use the facility discovered the infant and raised an alarm. Commercial drivers and bystanders quickly retrieved the baby and rushed her to the Kasoa Polyclinic for emergency medical care.
Case 2 - Asante Bekwai, Ashanti Region: On Thursday morning, August 20, 2026, a two-week-old neonate was reportedly abandoned by an unknown nursing mother at Bekwai in the Ashanti Region. Residents who came across the child raised the alarm. The baby was admitted to the Bekwai Government Hospital as police commenced investigations.
Let me be clear from the start: Newborn abandonment is wrong. It is dangerous. It is criminal. And it can kill. This article does not excuse it. But if we only arrest and shame, we will never stop it. We must treat the root, not just punish the fruit.
WHAT EXACTLY IS NEWBORN ABANDONMENT? - THE TWO DEFINITIONS
The Legal Definition: Under Ghana’s Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), Section 96, and the Children’s Act, 1998 (Act 560), abandonment of a child under 12 years is a criminal offence. It is classified as exposure and abandonment, punishable as a misdemeanor or felony. The law sees the mother as a perpetrator.
The Psychological Definition: In clinical textbooks, newborn abandonment is defined as the intentional, permanent relinquishment of all parental rights, care, and responsibilities over an infant within the first 28 days of life without making formal, legal arrangements for care.
To understand this crisis properly, we must not confuse it with child abandonment. Newborn abandonment happens within 0-28 days of life, often driven by acute panic, denial of pregnancy, or postpartum psychosis where the attachment bond never formed. Child abandonment, on the other hand, involves toddlers to teenagers where a bond existed but collapsed over time due to chronic poverty, family breakdown, or parental burnout. One is an acute crisis of the first month; the other is a chronic breakdown over years. Both are harmful, but they need different interventions.
Psychologically, newborn abandonment is the ultimate rupture of the primary attachment bond. Think of a 19-year-old university student who secretly gives birth alone in her hostel room, wraps the crying baby in a polythene bag, and drops it at a refuse dump at midnight. That is not just a crime scene; it is a scene of extreme panic and psychological dissociation.
WHY WOULD A MOTHER CARRY A BABY FOR 9 MONTHS AND THEN ABANDON IT?
This is the question every Ghanaian asks. If you wanted to abandon it, why not abort? The answer is deeply psychological:
1. The Psychodynamics of Denial of Pregnancy: This is a profound defense mechanism, not a lie. The mother’s subconscious mind completely rejects the reality of the pregnancy. She does not gain weight normally, feels no kicks, does not seek antenatal care, and genuinely convinces herself she is not pregnant until sudden, shocking labour pains take her by surprise in a toilet or bedroom.
2. Fantasy of a Dissolving Problem: This is called cognitive avoidance. She believes “my boyfriend will come back,” “my mother will forgive me,” or “something miraculous will happen before birth.” So she waits, paralyzed, until the baby is here.
3. Barriers to Safe Abortion: Deep religious guilt, moral anxiety, fear of dying from a back-alley abortion, lack of money for a safe procedure, and family laws force her to carry to term even when she feels incapable.
4. The Shock of Reality and Acute Panic: Upon delivery, the physical presence and crying of the newborn shatters all denial. Confronted with immediate exposure, shame, and reality, her brain enters a trauma response — “fight, flight, or freeze.” For many, it becomes “flight” — physically escape the threat of exposure to survive socially. That is why babies are left in places where others will find them — lorry stations, churches, hospitals.
THE ROOT CAUSES: IT IS NEVER JUST ONE REASON
My years of counselling at CPAC show me abandonment is rarely an act of malice. It is the tragic endpoint of 7 overwhelming distresses:
1. Severe Maternal Mental Illness — the Hidden Emergency
a) Clinical Postpartum Depression (PPD): This is far beyond “baby blues.” It is a severe mood disorder that can appear weeks to months after birth. Due to a massive drop in hormones, extreme sleep deprivation, and emotional exhaustion, the mother feels deep sadness, worthlessness, and complete emotional numbness towards her baby. Picture: A new mother sits by her bed all day, staring blankly. Her baby cries for hours, but she cannot lift her hands to carry the baby. She whispers, “This baby would be better off without me.” She does not hate the baby; she feels she has completely failed as a mother.
b) Peripartum Psychosis (Postpartum Psychosis): This is a psychiatric emergency. Rare but extremely dangerous, appearing suddenly within the first 2-3 weeks after delivery. The mother completely loses touch with reality. She hears commanding voices telling her to abandon the baby, or believes the baby is possessed by an evil spirit or is a “spirit child” who will bring a curse. Picture: A mother genuinely believes she heard a voice saying, “Leave this child at the crossroads at midnight or your family will die.” She abandons the baby not out of hatred, but because her broken mind believes she is obeying a higher spiritual order to save her family.
c) Pre-Existing Untreated Schizophrenia: This is a chronic, severe mental disorder that existed before the pregnancy. The stress of pregnancy and labour shatters her fragile coping. She suffers from paranoid delusions — believing people want to poison her and the baby — flat affect (zero facial expression), and grossly disorganized thinking, making it impossible to plan how to feed or clean a baby. Picture: A young woman whose family called her illness “spiritual attack” instead of taking her for medication wanders away after delivery, completely forgetting she even gave birth, leaving the infant behind.
2. Extreme Socio-Economic Deprivation: For many girls in some parts of Ghana such as Kasoa, Madina, or Bekwai, poverty is not a statistic; it is a daily panic. No money for antenatal care, no money for hospital delivery, no money for baby diapers or formula. When a mother cannot feed herself, the thought of feeding another mouth feels impossible. Some mothers say, “I left her where someone richer would find her, because I could not watch her starve to death in my hands.” It is a distorted act of survival.
3. Intense Societal Stigma and Shame: In Ghana, pregnancy outside marriage, teenage pregnancy, or pregnancy from rape can bring extreme family rejection. The girl is called “spoilt,” beaten, banned from church, or sacked from school. The fear of bringing shame to the family name is heavier than the fear of police. So she hides the pregnancy for 9 months, delivers alone, and abandons in secret to protect her family’s “honour.”
4. Paternal Abandonment — The Man Who Ran Away: Behind almost every abandoned baby is a man who vanished. He says, “It is not mine,” or “Abort it,” and switches off his phone. The mother is left utterly isolated — no emotional, financial, or social support. She is criminalized alone, but the abandonment started with him. Psychological research shows paternal denial is one of the strongest predictors of maternal panic and newborn abandonment.
5. Substance Abuse Disorders: Alcohol, tramadol, and other drug addiction impair the brain’s executive functioning — the ability to plan, judge consequences, and process emotions. A mother struggling with addiction may give birth in a highly intoxicated or withdrawal state, unable to comprehend the needs of the newborn, leading to neglect and eventual abandonment.
6. The Spirit Child Cultural Phenomenon and Superstition: In some remote pockets of Northern Ghana and even in few parts of Central and Ashanti regions, public health research shows babies born with congenital deformities, severe disabilities, or whose mothers die in childbirth are branded as “spirit children” or cursed. In extreme instances, families, under cultural pressure, mandate that such babies be exposed or abandoned at shrines or bushes. This is not mental illness, but a harmful cultural belief system that still kills.
THE INVISIBLE WOUNDS
On the Baby: Risk of death from hypothermia, sepsis, and infection. Survivors suffer Anaclitic Depression and Failure to Thrive due to lack of touch. As adults, they battle Reactive Attachment Disorder, chronic mistrust, and identity crisis — “Why did my mother leave me in a dustbin?”
On the Mother: Lifelong hidden grief, intense guilt, chronic PTSD, depression, and elevated suicide risk. A prison cell does not heal this.
On the Nation: Overburdened orphanages like Osu Children’s Home, draining health budgets, and overworked Social Welfare officers.
HOW DO WE FIX THIS? — TOUGH ON THE ACT, COMPASSIONATE ON THE CAUSE
1. For Families — Become a Safe Haven, Not a Court: The first place a pregnant girl runs to should not be a gutter. Families must eradicate extreme hostility, moral condemnation, and banishment. When a daughter says, “I am pregnant,” your first response should not be “Leave my house!” but “We will figure this out together.” Discipline can come later; safety must come first.
2. For Churches & Mosques — From Pulpit Shaming to Practical Ministry: We must shift from judgmental sermons that brand these girls as “sinners.” Churches and mosques can establish a Crisis Pregnancy Ministry offering free confidential counselling, food, shelter, and hospital support. Let the girl know there is a church office she can run to at 3 AM or 5 AM. And to be clear as a Pastor and Counsellor: this does not mean we condone sex outside marriage — the Bible still calls it sin, and we still teach abstinence. But when sin or a mistake has already resulted in a pregnancy, our duty as the Church is not to stone her, but to restore her with love, truth, and grace, so that two lives — the mother and the baby — are saved.
3. For the State — Provide a Safe Alternative to a Dustbin: The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection must establish functional Safe Haven / Baby Box options. This is a law in many countries — a desperate mother can anonymously leave her baby at a hospital, police station, or Social Welfare office without being arrested, instead of a dustbin. We must also simplify formal adoption processes so desperate mothers choose legal relinquishment over abandonment.
4. For Healthcare — Screen the Mind, Not Just the Body: Every antenatal and postnatal visit must include mandatory postpartum mental health screening. Midwives must be trained to spot warning signs: total absence of antenatal care, calling the baby “it” or “this thing,” flat affect and refusing to breastfeed, or saying “This baby will destroy my life.”
5. For the Law and Public — Treatment before Punishment: Instead of immediate handcuffs and public shaming — which scares other desperate women into secretly killing their infants — we need a trauma-informed approach. Psychiatric evaluation should be mandatory before sentencing. Restorative justice — intensive psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation — must be considered over harsh prison sentences for mothers with proven psychosis.
Abandonment is a crime, yes. But a mentally broken mother needs a hospital bed before she needs a prison cell.
MY FINAL WORD TO GHANA
If you are a young woman reading this and you are hiding a pregnancy out of fear, please, do not drop your baby in a gutter. Call Social Welfare, go to the nearest hospital, or call CPAC. There is help. There is no shame in asking for help.
And to Ghana: A society’s moral health is measured by how it protects its most vulnerable. A newborn baby cannot run, fight, or speak. When a mother drops her baby into a gutter, let us stop asking only, “What is wrong with this mother?” and start asking, “What happened to her, and what did we fail to do?”
Save a mother’s mind today, and you will save a newborn’s life tomorrow.
-Counselor Prince Offei
Source:
REV. COUNSELOR PRINCE OFFEI, CPAC’s founder, is a leading Mental Health Professional, Marriage Counsellor, Author, ADR Expert/Arbitrator, and Spectator Newspaper Columnist. He writes on relationships, marriage, parenting, special needs support, and their connection to mental health. He is a leading mental health professional, lecturer, ADR Expert/Arbitrator, renowned author, and marriage counsellor at COUNSELOR PRINCE & ASSOCIATES CONSULT (CPAC COUNSELLOR TRAINING INSTITUTE).
He is the author of several books, including "Preparing for a Happy and Fulfilling Marriage: Everything You Need to Know Before You Say 'I Do'" and "A Counsellor's Guide to Using 'Preparing for a Happy and Fulfilling Marriage' Effectively."
For therapy, counselling, mediation, or enquiries, contact Counselor Prince & Associates Consult (CPAC) and CPAC Counsellor Training Institute in Accra on 0559850604 or 0551428486.
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