Why do people steal babies?

from The Forum@8 Hosted by SAfm

When Celeste and Morne Nurse's three-day-old baby was kidnapped from hospital in 1997, a man-hunt for the perpetrator was launched without any success. But a chance encounter seventeen years later has completed their was once broken family. Their story captured hearts and headlines in South Africa. But sadly, this baby snatching wasn't the first. In 2009, baby Siphisihle Ncumani was snatched from Tygerberg Hospital. The police's search was successful and he was reunited with his mother after a month. In 2008, five-month-old Leabona Guvana was taken from Helderberg Hospital in Somerset West. Earlier this year, a 12-day-old baby boy was snatched while sleeping in a cot next to his mother in the maternity ward at Groote Schuur Hospital. These stories beg the question of why this happens in the first place. Is it because people cannot conceive? Have they suffered a loss or a mental breakdown? Or is it pure criminality for profit? On the Forum at eight this morning we ask; why do people steal babies? Our guest Ketso Moorosi- Clinical and Forensic Pychologist at KJM Health says parents should not wait wait 24 hours before reporting their child lost and Michael Olsen - Who is the Co-Founder of Concerned Parents of Missing Children whose son has been missing for years says he still has hope that he will one day return.