A security guard came across the baby wrapped in a blanket in a zipped-open baby bag while doing his rounds of the civic centre and nearby buildings on October 24. He asked a woman who was passing by for help and she picked up the baby.
The woman made contact with this journalist after the article appeared in the paper, to tell her side of the story. She says when she picked up the baby, he was very thirsty and tried suckling on her skin for moisture. She ran to a nearby pre-primary school, where her daughter is enrolled, to get the baby some water. Next, she went to the police station for help but ended up taking the baby home as the police officers were not very helpful.
Later that evening, her husband went to the police station to try to get them to help but in the end the couple took the baby to Rob Ferreira Hospital themselves. “I couldn’t just keep the baby. If something happened to him while in my care, it would have been my responsibility,” she remarked. They came across a social worker at the hospital and gave the baby over to her care.
She believes the fact that the baby was found in a baby bag with a blanket signified that the baby’s mother wanted someone who could take better care of the baby to find him.
The social worker from Child Welfare White River says the baby has been placed in someone’s care temporarily as they have to place in advert in local media for three months to say that the baby was found and give the parents or family time to come forward. If no-one comes to claim the baby, he will be placed in foster care and after a year, if Child Welfare isn’t contacted by the family, he will be put up for adoption.
The social worker called on the community to come forward to be screened and become safety parents. There is a shortage of foster homes and places of safety and children’s homes in the area are currently full. “We want the community to help if another case such as this occurs again,” the social worker said.
