Newborn abandoned
Search on for mother of baby found in hospital parking lot
Authorities are seeking the mother of a newborn baby girl found Tuesday night in the grass in front of a hospital in south Lake Charles.
Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso, at a Wednesday news conference, said the baby is “a beautiful child and seems to be in good health.”
The infant, who Mancuso said is African-American, was left outside Lake Charles Memorial Hospital for Women on Gauthier Road.
Mancuso urged the mother or whomever left the baby to turn themselves in, saying that if that takes place now rather than later courts may be more lenient.
He said the only definite information authorities have on the infant’s mother at this point is that “this person was pregnant yesterday and isn’t today,” Mancuso said.
There is a Safe Haven Law in Louisiana in which parents can give up newborns up to 60 days old at police departments, fire departments or hospitals, but the baby must be turned over to an employee.
If a parent is unable to get to any of the Safe Haven locations, they may call 911 and law enforcement will pick up the infant, authorities said.
In this case, Mancuso said, the person’s “intentions were probably appropriate but they just didn’t follow through. This would have been very simple last night; 50 yards more and hand the baby off.”
Investigators believe the infant had been in that spot for about 15 minutes when a woman who had exited the hospital to get in her vehicle, heard crying and found the baby.
Mancuso said the infant was naked and had not been covered with a blanket or anything else.
In appealing for the public’s help in identifying the person who left the baby, Mancuso said that person could face child abandonment or other possible charges.
Once the baby has been cleared medically and leaves the hospital, authorities said she will be placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services who will find a family to care for her.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 491-3605.