Baby boxes in demand

How can anyone sit in judgement at such heartache.

Be careful when you place the blame squarely on any one party. Perhaps the father is a psychologically unstable hardcore drug addict. He obviously wasn't a suitable father before someone slept with him and he would probably only make the baby worse off than it would be with the single mother. Perhaps the mother is the one shutting the father out of the baby's life. Perhaps the father doesn't even know he has a baby.
I'm not defending the cowards that abandon their children, but often enough parents might as well have abandoned them with how little attention they give them and how little interest in their lives they take. Parents, by and large, are terrible. It's not just men and it's not just women.

"Define "a reliable man,"will you? While you are at it,define "reliable woman.""

I am sorry if this touches on a sore point. Is it your ex-wife whom you are thinking of?

Up until a few decades ago, women could tell the difference. It's not difficult to spot the "flake-heads, unemployed people, "poets", junkies and criminals"; the reliable ones don't come and go with the wind, haven't had numerous children with other women and have managed to hold down a (hopefully not dead-end) job since they left university. The ones who strum guitars and have sponged off their previous girlfriends are best avoided.

The problem isn't knowing who is reliable, it's deciding that the state isn't going to support your children so you need to find a man who is capable of doing that in preference to the one who is good-looking but vacuous.

"forming a stable long-term relationship with a reliable man there will continue to be a lot of children brought up without fathers."

Define "a reliable man,"will you? While you are at it,define "reliable woman."

But the sad truth is Mark, that the majority of men, males of whom I speak are not " ... flake-heads, unemployed people, "poets", junkies and criminals ... " though "jerks" they are as you say. Rather, they are quite ordinary, normal men. The latest one I've come across is a policeman, to which societal role is attached a certain amount of virtue, or so it used to be.

"It's an absolute bloody disgrace and caused, in the main, by males unwilling to accept their FULL responsibilties to their offspring."

This may be true. However, given that women are the ones who end up "holding the baby" it would help if they made more intelligent choices. So long as so many of them continue to sleep with jerks, flake-heads, unemployed people, "poets", junkies and criminals rather than forming a stable long-term relationship with a reliable man there will continue to be a lot of children brought up without fathers. If women could do this a hundred years ago they can probably manage to do so now.

"unnecessary and somewhat xenophobic comment."

Sasha talking about somebody's else xenophobia is a joke of the week.

But it is never the mother who "gets herself pregnant". It takes two to tango here, and you appear to be perpetuating the absolving of the male of any responsibility. I'm not just talking about the small number of pregnancies which end up with babies being dumped, I'm talking generally and about the high rate of single parenthood, mainly single mothers, in this country and elsewhere. It's an absolute bloody disgrace and caused, in the main, by males unwilling to accept their FULL responsibilties to their offspring. Child support is not enough; children, particularly boys, but not exclusively so, need to have a father around.

"Unfortunately the recent return to "stone age morality" has its drawbacks"

Spoken by somebody who is first adherer to that.

"In many instances the scumbag who got the female pregnant abandons her and, worst of all, his own offspring."

This can happen. However, if the mother gets herself pregnant with somebody whom she barely knows and cannot trust to stay around then she is to blame. If the man's identity is known, he will have to pay child support.

Unfortunately the recent return to "stone age morality" has its drawbacks.

"Mothers abandon babies for different reasons ... ".

Only one half of the story. In many instances the scumbag who got the female pregnant abandons her and, worst of all, his own offspring. The West is full of these paragons.

"Mothers abandon babies for different reasons, but usually it "stems from a relationship breakdown, drug or alcohol abuse, domestic violence, financial pressure or rape"

No, the reason is a total lack of parental responsibility, less than that which any mother rat would have.

"There are many mothers who do not want to go to the authorities, for example, illegal foreigners,"

Given that the overwhelming bulk of mothers who abandon their children are Czech, this is an unnecessary and somewhat xenophobic comment. In fact, children born here are covered by Czech health insurance anyway, regardless of the legal status of their parents.