Many women who are carton sleepers, even if they are young, have experienced pregnancy and motherhood. Some of them are mothers who have left their children with their families and relatives, some have given birth to stillborn babies, and some have been forced to sell their children. The following report provides a brief overview of the fate of children of carton sleeper women.

Dark plans of a life

First plan: As soon as she opened her eyes, the pain began. At first, she thought she had just passed out, but as she tried to get up from the ground, her back burned, her legs went weak, and she wet herself. It suddenly dawned on her that she was pregnant. Was it time? She didn’t know. She rubbed her stomach, her body tense and cold, but burning from the inside. She looked around. It was already midday and she was alone in the ruins. If only the pain had started last night; at least the children would have been there to help her. She struggled to get up and look for Zari; after all, Zari was the only one who could bring the children into this world alive in the desert.

Second plan: Majid pulled Zari out of the trash can and shouted, “Come on! The child of memories is coming into the world.” They both ran towards the ruins. Zari said, “You go look for supplies. Find some water and fabric from somewhere. Whatever you can find, whatever you think is necessary.” Majid pushed her back and with a limp, he dragged himself towards the ruins.

Plan Three: A police car with an emergency response van is parked in a ruined area. Officers have taken hold of Majid and Zari. Khatera is crying out: “Don’t take him, don’t take him! I promise to leave him. I promise to become a good person. He’s my child. Don’t take him!” The woman holding the child says: “Either you come with us and go to the camp, or we’ll just take the child.” Khatera cries and screams: “You’re separating my child from me. You’ve done this before. You won’t let me touch him. I won’t go with you. Don’t let them take my child.”

Fourth plan: Memories stir between the water and the house. Zari smokes a cigarette and Majid curses at the ground and time.

The above narrative is not a part of a screenplay, but rather a real-life account of many homeless women. Just by spinning a wheel among these cardboard beds and listening to their stories, these scenes are repeated in several tales. What challenges do homeless women face? How do they stay safe from sexual assault and violence? What do they do if they become pregnant? Is safe abortion an option for them? Is the child born healthy? If the child is sick, if they die, if the woman wants to raise her child herself, what happens? Which institutions and organizations address these issues?

Dying at the moment of birth

It was the year 1395 when the news of sterilization of homeless women resurfaced. Organizations such as the Tehran City Council, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and activists for the rights of homeless women and children each took a different stance on the issue. At the time, Minister of Health Hashemi Ghazizadeh dismissed the sterilization of homeless women and, as usual, the Welfare Organization announced that it did not have the legal or financial capability to address the needs of all vulnerable children and women. Charmine Mimandinejad, founder of the “Imam Ali Society,” also stated that three to four addicted children are born daily in Tehran. Fatemeh Daneshvar, former head of the Social Committee of the Tehran City Council, insisted that a solution must be found to prevent unwanted pregnancies among homeless women in order to prevent the birth of addicted and neglected children. After some time, the issue faded away and was forgotten. Now, after about six years,

Homeless women in Iran, like other homeless individuals, do not have access to public health and free treatment. If they do occasionally receive health services, it is from limited centers such as NGOs, safe houses, or in rare cases, government health centers. Since this group of women are at risk of sexual assault or engage in sexual activities for money and substances, they are among the high-risk groups for sexually transmitted diseases and infections. For example, HIV, HPV, syphilis, cervical cancer, and uterine infections are common among them. They also constantly face unwanted pregnancies, and their infants and children are at risk of being born addicted and in dangerous and fragile health conditions. These women often do not have access to contraception, and even if they do, they may not use it for various reasons. On the other hand, due to its illegality, high costs, and the desire to make money from children, abortion is almost impossible for them. However, in some cases, unsafe

A high percentage of newborns born on the streets from women who are homeless, die due to unhygienic childbirth. Many drug addicts use the bodies of these infants for begging; furthermore, there is no accurate statistics on the mortality rate of street childbirths to be able to investigate and analyze this issue.

Child trafficking

Illegal medical transactions are one of the problems that are observed in the vicinity of many public hospitals. Buying and selling body parts, drugs, medical equipment, and trading infants and children are all part of the black market system in the healthcare system in Iran. Women who live in cardboard boxes are among those who are exposed to the harms of this black market. They, who are constantly living in unstable conditions, see selling their newborns and children as their first option; sometimes to obtain money and substances, and sometimes because they are unable to take care of their children.

According to social workers, the black market for buying and selling infants, which meets a high percentage of its needs through vulnerable women, is mostly run by child traffickers and members of organized crime. This means that the transactions are not for the purpose of giving children to childless families, but rather these children are handed over to trafficking gangs or members of organized crime for labor in laboratories or child mafia activities, and they remain trapped in this cycle of harm and in many cases lose their lives very soon.

Newborns who are born from women who are cardboard sleepers, if they are very lucky, are given to welfare or safe houses and NGOs. In this case, it can be said that they have access to some health services or if they have been born addicted, they can recover and regain their health. In rare cases, they are given to other families and these children have the opportunity to experience a normal life, but many of them stay in these safe houses or welfare homes until they reach legal age. Active safe houses in Iran have separate sections for children or mother and child and provide them with health and educational services. However, since active institutions in this field are limited and have limited legal and financial resources, they cannot cover all the vulnerable children.

Mother is the same as home.

Some of these children also stay with their mothers and sometimes they have the motivation and hope that the injured woman will receive help from institutions and try to build a new life for herself and her child. But in some cases, when legal authorities determine that the mother is not competent to take care of the child, even if she wants to, they separate the child from her. Although safe houses, welfare and social emergency services deny this issue, there are reports and testimonies from mothers of cardboard sleepers or even male cardboard sleepers who have been forcibly separated from their children. For example, in a video published on the social media page of one of the safe house supervisors, emergency service personnel are trying to convince a woman who is breastfeeding her young child to go to a shelter or sign a paper stating that she wants to stay on the street. Where the video cuts off, that’s where the emergency worker grabs the woman’s hand to force her to leave. In many of these cases, emergency services

On the other hand, if these children live on the streets with their mothers, they do not have access to proper hygiene facilities like their mothers, and are at risk of malnutrition and various illnesses, and will have an uncertain fate.

Given that there is no reliable statistics on the birth of addicted infants in Iran and only the Anti-Drug Headquarters occasionally publishes anti-narcotics information, it is not possible to obtain an accurate report on their situation. However, these infants, many of whom have mothers who are cardboard box sleepers, are affected by “substance deprivation syndrome” after birth, in addition to acute respiratory, heart, and neurological disorders. Seizures, fever, sweating, and increased heart rate are symptoms of this syndrome, which occurs due to the lack of drugs in the infant’s body and causes restlessness and abnormal crying. They also have no desire to breastfeed, which puts them at risk of malnutrition. These infants require special medical care from birth to return to normal physical condition. Since there is no accurate statistics and information in this area, some child welfare workers believe that more than seventy percent of them do not receive any medical services and if they survive, they are addicted from birth. Therefore,

Cardboard sleeping is also secure.

Increasing poverty, violence, homelessness, and cultural and generational disconnect in society are influential factors in homelessness. However, aside from the structural reasons that each play a significant role in this social phenomenon, facing this issue is a matter for contemplation and questioning. The question of why many homeless individuals do not want to return to the normal cycle of life also relates to the government and society’s treatment of them. The government not only fails to provide supportive services to this vulnerable group, but also does not allow for the study, investigation, and understanding of this phenomenon through security measures, and instead contributes to the distribution of drugs among them and responds with violent measures.

The brief report that you read about the hardships of children in cardboard boxes, due to this security approach, was unable to use the documented information and statistics in this field. Most social workers or managers of safe houses were not willing to talk or provide information in this area due to security pressure. The pressure on safe houses and the threat of closure and homelessness has led these institutions to continue their work in closed and difficult environments without facilities; even field research on cardboard boxes can have security consequences for a journalist or researcher. To access information and statistics from government and state organizations such as social emergency, one must pass through security barriers and identity verification, which is impossible for an independent journalist or researcher. The government either denies or ignores cardboard boxes, or keeps these individuals in warm houses and addiction camps with violence and torture for a short period of time and then returns them to the streets.