Police seek mother of abandoned newborn

As the condition of an abandoned newborn boy improved yesterday , city police detectives scoured the Roslindale neighborhood where the infant was found in search of his mother.

The baby, named Jordan by state officials, was discovered Sunday morning off Bradeen Street, whimpering, wrapped in a plastic garbage bag with a towel around his head. Police believe the child had been left overnight in the empty lot. He was upgraded yesterday from very critical to serious condition, according to Children's Hospital, where he was being treated.

The child remains ``acutely ill," said Andrea Duggan , hospital spokeswoman.

``It was a good night," she said. ``But there is still a long road."

Around Bradeen Street, neighbors expressed concern for the child and some even offered to adopt him.

``I have faith that baby is going to make it," said Mireya Jimenez , 55, of the Dominican Republic, who has been staying at her daughter's house on Fawndale Street. She said she was one of the neighbors who found the baby about 11 a.m., with his umbilical cord and placenta still attached, in a littered yard behind an empty house. She described the baby as dark-haired, with chubby arms, but said the cold had turned his complexion a frightening purple .

``He's beautiful," Jimenez said yesterday. ``I'll take him back with me to Santo Domingo."

Police were anxious to find the mother, who state officials fear may need treatment. They said she could provide medical history that would help improve her child's condition.

``We're looking for any kind of information," said Officer Eddy Chrispin , a spokesman for the Boston Police Department. ``They have nothing leading them to a mother or a close relative at all."

On Sunday, police with a dog searched around Bradeen Street. Yesterday, two detectives returned to the scene, focusing attention on the nearby Florence Apartments complex, where they asked residents if they had seen any pregnant women in the area who appeared to be close to delivering .

``It's sick," said Liana Melecio , 27, who is six months pregnant with her fourth child and was interviewed by the detectives. ``So many women are trying to have a baby but can't. How can someone do this?"

Denise Monteiro , spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services, which has assumed emergency custody of the child, said that officials are worried about the mother. Most likely, she is a child herself and is alone, Monteiro said.

``Most of our abandonments are by kids between 14 and 24 years old," she said. ``We have two children who may have been abandoned."

Jordan, who was named by a state official anxious that the child not be named ``John Doe," probably will be placed in permanent DSS custody. He then could be placed with foster parents approved by the state.

Jordan is the second newborn to be abandoned since the state adopted the Baby Safe Haven Law in October 2004, which waives prosecution of parents who leave an unwanted child at a hospital or police or fire station within seven days of birth.

Last April, on Easter Sunday, police and firefighters found a 9-pound newborn wrapped inside a plastic bag in a dumpster in an alley on School Street in Westfield. The baby, a boy, survived and was placed with a foster family and is doing well, Monteiro said. The mother, who was 22 at the time, was arraigned on charges of attempted murder, abandoning a child, and assault and battery on a child with substantial injury.

Since the Baby Safe Haven Law was enacted, two newborns have been turned over to authorities, and about 21 women have called the state hot line to enter a parenting or adoption plan.

In Roslindale, residents said they were amazed the baby survived a cold night in an empty lot frequented by raccoons and other animals.

The child was outside at least 13 hours without food or heat, said Jimenez, who heard what sounded like an injured cat about 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

When her daughter's neighbor, Edwin Avendano , peered under the plastic bag the next morning and realized it was a baby, Jimenez said, chills ran down her spine.

``I almost died," she said.

Her daughter, Yomary Kelly , said she felt guilty that she and her mother did not investigate the noises earlier. At dawn Sunday, while she fed her 3-week-old son, she also heard the noises but ignored them.

``Who thinks someone is going to do something like that?" she asked. ``Here I was, inside with my son, who was eating and warm while outside another baby was cold and hungry."

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.