Baby found in box with note from parents, Alaska officials say. ‘So sad to do this’
Update: Authorities in Alaska have identified the baby’s mother, according to a Jan. 5 news release from the Alaska Department for Public Safety. She was taken to a hospital for medical treatment and evaluation. No criminal charges have been filed, though police are still investigating the circumstances around the incident.
Original story below:
On New Year’s Eve, a baby was found abandoned in Fairbanks, Alaska, along with a note that seemed to be from the child’s parents, saying they couldn’t take care of him, according to authorities.
Alaska State Troopers were notified that a baby was found in a cardboard box that had been left at an intersection at 2 p.m. on Dec. 31. The baby seemed to be in good health and seemed to have been abandoned recently, according to a news release from the agency.
The note found in the box with the boy said that the baby had been born that day at around 6 a.m. and had been born premature, KOMO News reported.
“My parents and grandparents don’t have food or money to raise me. They NEVER wanted to do this to me. My mom is so sad to do this,” the note said, according to KOMO News. “Please take me and find me a LOVING FAMILY. My parents are begging whoever finds me.”
The baby was found amid subzero temperatures outside, according to Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Alaska State Troopers.
“We have Safe Haven laws here, which means you can drop off a child at a fire station or a church — no questions asked — but they were left at an intersection,” McDaniel told Today.
In a Facebook post, Roxy Lane, the woman who found the baby, said the mother may not have known about the law, which went into effect in 2008, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The woman urged people not to judge the child’s parents too harshly, Today reported.
“Clearly someone in our community felt so lost and hopeless that they probably made the hardest choice of their lives to leave that innocent life on the side of the road,” Lane said, according to Today.
The baby was taken to a nearby hospital, and a hospital spokeswoman said he is doing “very well,” the Anchorage Daily News reported.
According to Alaska’s Safe Surrender of Infants Act, parents can surrender a baby under 21 days old to peace officers, firefighters, emergency medical services providers, medical professionals, or “any person the parent reasonably believes would keep the infant safe and provide care,” the state’s Department of Health and Social Services website says.
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 8:11 AM with the headline "Baby found in box with note from parents, Alaska officials say. ‘So sad to do this’."