Abandoned baby left with note outside Orlando apartment, child services notified
A note left with an abandoned baby outside an apartment in the US state of Florida has detailed a domestic violence situation.
Authorities are searching for the mother of a one-day-old baby who was left outside an apartment in Orlando with a note begging for help.
The tiny newborn baby boy was left outside a home at Willow Key Apartments on Arnold Palmer Drive in the city’s southwest about 10am on Saturday.
The note read: “I had him in the bathroom. His dad tried to kll us. Please keep him secret and take him to hospital. Dad a very dangerous man. I’m so sorry, I tried to clean him and feed him as much as I (could.)”
Orlando Police confirmed the baby had been left at the upscale apartment complex and was later taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. He is healthy and being cared for.
The Florida Department of Children and Families has been notified while police work to track down the mother.
Local police sergeant Eduardo Bernal said detectives were examining the note. He said police are concerned the mother of the newborn could be in danger.
“We’re not going to specifically talk about a note being part of this case,” Sergeant Bernal said, according to Florida’s News6. “But we are looking into all the circumstances with that.”
He said the case could amount to “child neglect” because the mother did not drop the baby off to a fire station or a hospital.
“In more serious cases where injury comes to the baby or death, it could be aggravated manslaughter. It’s very serious,” Sergeant Bernal said.
“You’re talking about a one-day-old infant that can’t take care of themselves, there’s a lot of medical needs that start when the baby’s born, and with the heatwave it’s very dangerous, and that’s why this law was created, to give parents an out, to transfer custody and make sure the baby’s taken care of.”
Althe Brown found the baby on her doorstep last Saturday. She told local reporters she could not believe was she was seeing.
“It’s incomprehensible to me. I don’t know if it’s a neighbour or not or if it was just somebody that decided to use this place as their escape.”
Australian authorities were confronted with a similar case in March when a baby was abandoned outside a Perth medical centre.
On that occasion, the baby was left in a box at the Garden City Medical Centre in Booragoon with a note that revealed the baby’s name and included a cry for help.
When the story broke, it was followed by hundreds of offers from complete strangers to give the baby a good home. But police still want the baby’s mother to come forward.
“We do want to locate the mother, not for police reasons in terms of pursuing criminal conduct or anything, it’s about her health and welfare,” Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said.
“Clearly she wanted to leave the child in a place to be cared for. We want to also care for mum.”
