KARACHI, March 22: At least 20 to 25 newborn babies, born out of a wedlock, are received and looked after by the Edhi Foundation, every month.

Their number is increasing day by day, according to Edhi sources, who added that several bodies of newborns are found at derelict places which are spotted after they fall pray to wild animals.

The Edhi Foundation has installed cradles outside its centres throughout the city to encourage the people to place babies in these cradles from where the Edhi volunteers take them to the main centre.

The Edhi Foundation has appealed to the general public to at least leave the babies near the cradles, if not in them, so that they could be rescued.

Moreover, these cots are a common sight outside the Edhi Centres, which provide a new life to these children.

Lives of dozens of such babies can be saved if people start using these cots by placing the unclaimed babies in them.

Bilqis Edhi lamented the premature abortions taking place in several private clinics and urged the doctors and paramedics to stop indulging in such practices as it endangers the life of both the mother and the baby.

The babies received by the Edhi Foundation are later put up for adoption for childless couples.

Hundreds of women visit Edhi Child home in Mithadar every month seeking babies for adoption, but this responsibility cannot be bestowed on any one without personally assessing the prospective parents, Bilqis Edhi maintained.

Babies are handed over for adoption only after a complete guarantee sought from the couple seeking adoption.

“We thoroughly interview the childless couple and make sure for ourselves that the children are properly looked after and educated and have a long standing marriage of at least over 10-15 years”, Bilqis Edhi said.

Similarly, “We visit the residence of the couple to assess the living conditions of the prospective parents and avoid giving a child to a couple who is constantly on move and do not have a permanent residence”, she added.

The Edhi Foundation does not give a child to couples with foreign nationalities for adoption, and at least one spouse should have a Pakistani nationality in case if other is a foreign national, a senior official of the Edhi Child home said.

At present several of the children who were given for adoption by the Edhi Foundation are studying abroad or have settled in the US, along with their parents.