Police are searching for the mother of a newborn baby who was discovered next to a dumpster in Riverside, California on Sunday.
The baby was found at the Park Village Apartments at Jackson Street and Magnolia Avenue around 2:30 p.m. after several people called 911 reporting the sound of a newborn crying, abc7 reported.
When police responded to the scene, they found a baby boy next to a dumpster with his umbilical cord still attached. The infant was still breathing and crying, and police said the child is expected to be OK, according to the report. Investigators said they have not found any sign of the mother or information about who could have abandoned the child.
“We want to know — is this mother OK?” Officer Ryan Railsback told the outlet. “Obviously, if they just delivered a baby, they might need some type of medical care.”
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Police pointed out that the baby boy was abandoned across the street from Parkview Hospital — a Safe Haven location that allows mothers to legally surrender a newborn. California’s Safe Haven law allows face-to-face surrender of babies up to three days old to designated locations like hospitals, fire stations, and EMS providers, according to Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
“There are places — fire stations, police stations, hospitals — that are these safe surrender sites, no questions asked, that’s the law,” Railsback said. “You take your baby there, you just surrender them over, and you can walk away.”
Railsback said the baby is “healthy” and appears to be “white or Hispanic” or “possibly mixed.” Detectives are still working to locate the person who left the baby next to the dumpster.
“We would hope that the mother would come forward, you know, no matter what kind of consequences there could be, if this is a decision that they’re now regretting today, come forward, and our detectives are going to be able to help you with something. You know, number one, your own care, but with just figuring out this whole situation,” he said.
