ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando police are looking for the person who wrapped a newborn baby in a T-shirt and left him on the doorstep of an Orlando apartment Saturday morning.
This is the second time in the last two years that a baby has been abandoned at the Willow Key Apartments on Arnold Palmer Drive.
Police said the baby is fortunate because he is in good health.
TRENDING NOW:
Police said the 1-day-old boy was discovered at about 10 a.m. Saturday.
Neighbors said officers knocked on their doors and handed out flyers asking if they had seen anyone who appeared to have recently been pregnant.
Clive Petgrave told Channel 9 that police knocked on his door Saturday morning, asking him he was aware there was a newborn on his doorstep.
"(My neighbor) said she was in the kitchen, making breakfast and she heard a baby crying," he said. "She said to herself there should be no baby on this floor crying like that. And when she opened the door, she saw a baby."
Petgrave said it is a mystery to him as to why the baby was left outside his home.
"I don't know why my door," he said. "They have one upstairs. They have one downstairs. And they choose this one."
Officials said more than half of abandoned babies do not survive.
The case has renewed interest in a state law that allows people to legally give up a baby at hospitals and fire stations.
Former Oviedo fire Chief Lars White said he is happy to hear the baby was found in good health, but he wishes the baby had been brought to a fire station or another place bearing a Safe Haven for Newborns sign.
He said dropping the baby off at a fire station or hospital would have ensured the child got the care he needed as a newborn while the mother could stay anonymous.
"About the only thing we'll ask her is would she like medical care, are there any extenuating circumstances that we can be of help to her," said White, a Safe Haven Foundation spokesman. "We don't capture names, we don't look at vehicles that perhaps they drove up in. Absolutely nothing is collected from them."
Since the Safe Haven law was passed 19 years ago, 310 babies have been safely surrendered, White said. He said 63 babies have been illegally abandoned since it went into effect.
Statistics show 34 of those illegally abandoned babies didn't survive.
Abandoning a child at a location that is not a safe haven can lead to criminal charges.
Police said they are still searching for the mother in this latest case.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Orlando Police Department at 321-235-5300.
Expectant mothers who are considering safely surrendering their baby may call 877-767-2229 or 844-767-2229.
Click here for data on abandoned and surrendered babies.
DOWNLOAD: Free WFTV News & Weather Apps
Not near a TV? Click here to watch WFTV newscasts live
Cox Media Group
