Newborn girl found abandoned on Newton doorstep

September 10, 2008 02:23 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe)

Police displayed the pillow, blanket, and canvas bag the baby was lying in, in front of the home where she was found.

By Michael Levenson and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

NEWTON -- A newborn baby girl was found this afternoon tucked in a tote bag and abandoned on the doorstep of a home on a quiet, well-tended residential street just off Interstate 95.

An elderly man went outside on Moulton Street to check his mail at noon and found the girl, who appeared to be just hours old and had her umbilical cord still attached. Her head of curly black hair was poking out of the bag, which had been stuffed with a pillow and blanket.

"It wasn't what he was expecting," said Detective Nils Anderson of the Newton Police Department. "He saw the baby was sleeping peacefully, he touched it on the cheek, and her eyes opened. Cute little baby."

The elderly man called 911. Paramedics took the child to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, which is just on the other side of the highway.

“She is in perfect health, in excellent condition, and was well-taken care of,’’ said hospital spokesman Brian O’Dea. "She had been cleaned and dried prior to being left'' on the doorstep.

Doctors estimate that she was born sometime between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. The child appears to be of African-American or Hispanic heritage, weighs between 6.4 pounds, and has begun eating.

Doctors urged the mother to get to a hospital and seek medical care for herself.

“Any hospital is going to treat her, no questions asked,’’ O'Dea said.

Unless the mother or father comes forward, the infant will likely become the legal responsibility of the state’s Department of Children and Families. Alison Goodwin, spokeswoman for the DCF, said the state agency has not yet been formally notified about the discovery of the foundling.

The mother could be charged with child abandonment because she did not leave the child at a designated safe haven such as a hospital, fire house, or police station.