News

Actions

9-year-old girl finds abandoned newborn while playing in backyard in Indiana

Infant expected to be OK
Posted at 5:25 PM, Jul 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-12 14:45:28-04

LOWELL, Ind. -- A 9-year-old girl in Lowell, Indiana, found a newborn baby apparently abandoned in her backyard Monday morning.

According to WLS-TV in Chicago, the newborn baby girl was found wrapped in a black towel around 10:45 a.m. Lake County Sheriff John Buncich told WLS the little girl who found the baby is a "guardian angel."

"She knew right away this was an infant and she ran to the house and summoned her mother, and her mother ran out right away and realized exactly what she had found. And the mother took the infant home until the officers and medics arrived," Buncich said.

WLS reported that the infant is Caucasian with brownish-blonde hair. She had possibly been left overnight.

Indiana's Safe Haven Law allows parents to leave a child between 1-30 days old anonymously at a hospital emergency room, fire station or police station without fear of arrest or prosecution.

After a medical examination and a waiting period to allow the child's parents to come forward, children left under the Safe Haven Law are placed up for adoption. The whole process can take four-to-six months.

To read more about what happens to Indiana's Safe Haven babies, click here.

WLS reported the baby was at St. Anthony Hospital in Crown Point and was expected to make a full recovery.