Heartbreaking moments parents say goodbye to their sons and daughters at China's 'baby hatch"

These heartbreaking photos reveal the anguish of parents as they abandon their children in China's so-called 'baby hatches.'

The images taken at a centre in Guangzhou - one of 25 such hatch facilities in mainland China, spanning 10 provinces and major cities - show the last moments before parents give up their infants  often due to poverty or an inability to cope with disease or disability.

Abandoning children is illegal in China, but the 'hatches' were introduced so parents could abandon infants safely rather than leaving them in the streets.

A mother cries as she intends to give up her child. Abandoning children is illegal in China, but the 'hatches' were introduced so parents could abandon infants safely rather than leaving them in the streets

The hatch in opened in January, but staff were forced to shut the door just two months later after becoming overwhelmed with 262 abandoned youngsters - all of which were ill or disabled. 

'My baby cannot take care of itself when it grows up. I just want my baby to survive,' said a mother reported the South China Morning Post.

A man holding his baby cries in front of the Guangzhou baby hatch after the baby was refused because it is too old

In one of the photos an uncle is seen leaving his niece who he says is suffering from leukemia and her parents can not afford her medical bills. 

Another distressing image shows a man crying after being told his baby is too old to be accepted.

A couple, whose child has Pierre Robin syndrome - congenital condition of facial abnormalities in humans - are also photographed walking to the centre to give up their child.  

A parent typically opens a door and places their infant in a small room, rings a bell and leaves before welfare services collect the child. 

Last month the welfare home's director Xu Jiu announced the suspension and told Xinhua news agency: 'I hope everyone understands the difficulties the welfare centre face.'

We are temporarily closing the centre [to new babies] so that we can properly care for the infants already at the centre.'

The centre, which also cares for orphans, has 1,000 beds.

Some 10,000 children were abandoned in China every year, said Wang Zhenyao, president of the China Welfare Research Institute at Beijing Normal University. 

Media reports say many of these are girls and disabled children.

Abandonment has been encouraged by the one-child policy and a traditional bias for sons, who support elderly parents and continue the family name, leading to the abandonment of girls. 

Even as China starts to relax the one-child policy, allowing millions of families to have a second child, it still penalises people who flout the rules.

Read more:Dailymail.co.uk
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook