NEWS

Joachim Spitz, chairman of the ProKids Foundation, doesn't want to reveal much, citing the child's anonymity. But he does say this much: "The boy is doing well, he has no injuries, and is now receiving a lot of affection." The ProKids Foundation's baby hatch at the Franziskusheim on Neckarstrasse in Villingen-Schwenningen has been in operation since 2010. A child is dropped off there approximately every two years. The last time was in April 2023, and now again, on the evening of June 23, 2025. The newborn was found quickly, says Spitz. "The procedures we defined together with the Franziskusheim and the German Red Cross worked perfectly."

No signs of abuse

An alarm is triggered when a baby is placed in the hatch. A crib is integrated into the hatch, which is monitored by cameras. Two nursing home employees took the baby and provided initial care until the German Red Cross arrived and transported the child to the Schwarzwald-Baar Hospital.

A precautionary measure, Spitz explains, to ensure the baby's health. In this case, the child is doing well, and there are no signs of abuse. Nevertheless, the child will remain in the hospital's intensive care unit for the next few days, "simply because there are enough staff there to care for the baby," Spitz explains.

In the next few days, a foster family and, in the long term, an adoptive family will be sought in cooperation with the Youth Welfare Office. However, it usually takes up to a year for the child to be adopted.

Seven children so far in the baby hatch

This is the seventh child to be left in the Schwenningen baby hatch. The baby hatch contains contact information for local counseling centers and the ProKids Foundation. Spitz says only one mother has contacted him since the facility opened. She gave the child up for adoption at the time.

Spitz himself initiated the baby hatch years ago when he read in the newspaper that a dead newborn had been found in a plastic bag in a forest near Singen. "Something like this must not happen again," he decided at the time. The baby hatch in Schwenningen's Franziskusheim cost around €30,000, "but it was worth every cent," Spitz says.

He has followed the lives of all the children who have been rehomed so far. Almost all of them are growing up in adoptive families and are doing well.