Another baby dies in the “baby warehouses”

Migrant mothers are obliged to leave their children in the care of women from the migrant community who run nurseries. Children between the ages of one month and three years are left there for long hours as their parents work to pay the rent and sustain themselves and their children. The conditions are often very grim: one woman taking care of tens of children in cramped spaces with little light and no space to move.

Five babies have died in the past few months. The cause of death was neglect in these nurseries. Those that survive are unable develop as normal children and will inevitably suffer various forms of retardation in their development: motor, language, emotions, social skills.

The Saint James Vicariate and the Coordination of the Pastoral for Migrants is working with Israeli NGOs (especially UNITAF) to raise awareness and create alternatives. Mini day care centers have been established in both Our Lady Woman of Valor Center in Tel Aviv and at the Saint James Vicariate in Jerusalem. The Vicariate has also been involved in a sadder aspect of this tragedy: two of the babies were buried in the Vicariate’s cemetery in Beer Sheba.

Read about the tragedy on the YNET site in Hebrew here

Read about the tragedy on TLV1 site in English here