Money offered for baby at Auckland hospital

Two women who had just given birth at Middlemore Hospital were approached by complete strangers - one of whom offered money for her newborn, while the other asked the new mother whether she might give up her baby.

Both incidents happened in the past six weeks and are not believed to be connected. In each case the families asked that the police not be involved.

The news comes as Queensland police investigate a possible baby-buying operation targeting Polynesian women at a public hospital west of Brisbane. It is not known if the incidents are linked.

No similar cases have been reported at other hospitals contacted by the Herald and a spokeswoman for the College of Midwives was not aware of any reports of strangers approaching new mothers about their babies.

Counties Manukau District Health board security and emergency response manager Mick Hubbard said that in the first incident, about six weeks ago, a European woman and her partner were approached by a person and offered a "fairly large" amount of money for their child.

They did not take the offer seriously and did not mention it to staff until days later when they were leaving the hospital to go home.

"They laughed it off and took no notice and the person was not seen again." The second incident took place a few weeks ago and involved a Pacific Island woman who was approached by two European women at the hospital's emergency department.

"She wasn't asked anything specific. She was offered a lot of incentives and clothing and the inference was that the people who had spoken to her would be interested in taking the baby on. The mother wasn't keen and thought no more about it."

Mr Hubbard said the women had suggested names for the baby and indicated they would like to help with its "upkeep and upbringing".

The mother was approached in hospital a second time by the same women after she gave birth. This time they did not mention anything about taking on the baby.

"They weren't allowed to see the baby, they weren't allowed to come anywhere in contact with the baby. Security measures were put in place to preclude that happening, just on the off chance it wasn't as cut and dried as it seemed."

Mr Hubbard would not comment on what the extra security measures were. "We have a security plan for the maternity unit and we did activate that with staff within the maternity unit and security staff."

Mr Hubbard said the mother and father, who were happy for the women to be there, had been reluctant to talk about the incident. The two European women had not returned to the hospital.

It was possible the two women were "genuinely concerned about the child getting some advantage in life and have no ulterior motive whatsoever".

In relation to the first incident, Mr Hubbard said there was no issue of safety and the parents were offered the chance to involve the police but declined.

Staff had been reminded of security measures and the hospital was still talking to the families involved.

Mr Hubbard said the hospital had a policy for admitting visitors after general visiting hours. Security staff checked with ward staff before admitting people to the hospital.

"As security manager it's my job to try and make the place as safe as we possibly can. Having said that, we can't make it like Fort Knox because people have to feel comfortable coming in and out to visit people. We try and hit a happy medium."

Mr Hubbard said he did not have a specific concern that people were targeting new mothers in hospital. Every hospital was concerned about its patients as they were potentially vulnerable.

The hospital was investigating the possibility of electronic anklets for newborn babies, a move that is due to be implemented at Auckland City Hospital as part of a $4 million security investment.

A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said there were no specific ministry directives when it came to hospital security. It was down to individual district health boards and hospitals to decide what security they had.

Some hospitals operate closed-circuit television cameras in their maternity wards. Many are locked outside of visiting hours with access via a swipe card.

College of Midwives midwifery adviser Bronwen Pelvin said New Zealand hospitals operated a reasonably open system because maternity units were comparatively small and babies were almost always with their mothers. There had been very few cases of babies being taken from hospitals.

* Have you heard of similar approaches over babies? Email the New Zealand Herald newsdesk using the link below.