Abandonment of a newborn: she did not know she was pregnant

The abandonment of a newborn on the street in the middle of winter in Trois-Rivières reveals another sad aspect of homelessness in the region, since the woman who allegedly abandoned her child was on the street.

According to the general director of the Center le Havre, Karine Dahan, the woman was well known to homeless services in Trois-Rivières. It is a person who knows how to ask for helpaccording to her.

From what we know, it’s a person who didn’t know she was pregnant, as can happen to any woman. So I think we need to put this in context.says Ms. Dahan.

She says the sad story is more nuanced than simple child abandonment.

She was actually in consumption. She still called the police first, so she was still aware that something was going on inside her. After [elle a eu] a panic attack and psychosis, and she’s goneshe said.

Without wanting to minimize the seriousness of the gesture, Ms. Dahan believes that the woman was going through a very difficult situation at the time of the event.

I think we also have to put ourselves back in the context of a woman who is giving birth, who does not know that she is giving birth, who does not know what is happening, who has a stomach ache and who notices that she has just given birth to a childshe explains.

There is absolutely no idealization of pregnancy. There is absolutely no screening in a maternity wardshe adds.

The street particularly difficult for women

This event paints a sad picture of homelessness in the region, although Ms. Dahan refuses to say that this is the sole reason why the events unfolded.

I don’t think this is a situation that is directly linked to homelessness, but rather to a general condition of poverty, of ignorance of certain conditions when you are a womanshe said.

She concedes that living on the streets is more difficult for women.

They are more exposed to insecurity, to the fact that they are victims of rape more easily. It’s difficult because women, unlike men in street situations, often call on resources as a last resort. When a woman comes knocking on our doors, it is because they have really exhausted all their resourcesshe says.

According to an interview on the show Always in the morning