[ back ]
Inquiry into case of dumped baby continues
(by Tim Woodcock - May 14, 2008)
St. Louis police have released a grainy security-camera photo of a woman considered “a person of interest” in the case of the baby who was placed in a dumpster.
The newborn boy, who was discovered with his umbilical cord and placenta still attached, was found around 9 p.m. May 5 in a Dumpster in the 5700 block of Waterman Boulevard in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood. The baby appeared to have been born on the same day that he was abandoned.
The photo, taken on the platform of the Forest Park MetroLink station that same evening, shows a black female, wearing a white jacket, blue jeans and a headband. The woman is thought to be in her 20s.
Until the police accessed the security-camera footage, they had no strong leads in the investigation. Police spokeswoman Schron Jackson would not say whether the “person of interest” is the suspected mother; she is someone the police would like to talk to in connection with the case, Jackson said.
The baby was discovered by a man who had just mowed his lawn and was emptying grass clippings into a Dumpster in the alley behind his home.
The baby was taken to St. Louis Children’s Hospital, where he was examined; he appears to be healthy.
The warmth and moisture of the grass clippings probably helped the baby keep his temperature up, said Dr. F. Sessions Cole, who has been working on the case at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Cole said in cases such as this one, the first step is to aggressively evaluate the baby’s health, running far more tests than would be conducted on a typical newborn. Of particular concern is tetanus, because of the exposure to germs in the Dumpster, he said. Because nothing is known about the biological mother’s health, tests for hepatitis and HIV would also be necessary, he said. It would also be helpful to have a genetic history, which would help assess the child’s risk of developing various diseases in later life. Normally, all this information is gathered during prenatal appointments with the mother-to-be and hospital staff, he said.
Both the hospital and police report that many of the calls they have received regarding the case have been offers of assistance and from people wanting to adopt the baby, rather than tips regarding who the mother is.
At this stage, the mother could be facing a criminal charge such as abandonment, but it need not have been that way if she had taken to the baby to a hospital, police station or fire station, said Margie Batek, a social worker based at Children’s Hospital’s emergency room. As a result of a safe-haven law passed in 2002, mothers can take an unwanted newborn to one of these places without questions being asked, she said. Under the law, a new mother who is feeling overwhelmed has a right to relinquish her parental rights.
The original version of the law covered babies up to 30 days old, and in 2005 it was broadened to include babies up to 1 year in age.
“The law is great. The problem is that it is not publicized,” especially among parts of the population who would be most likely to use it, Batek said. The most common fear among mothers in this situation is that in attempting to relinquish her parental rights the mother will be arrested or her family will be notified. The law has protections against this, Batek said.
The baby is now under the jurisdiction of the city’s Family Court system. The baby cannot be moved directly into an adoptive family home without certain legal steps being followed first, Batek said. If the father steps forward and DNA tests back up his claim, he could take over as the parent of the child. If no one steps forward, the child will go from the hospital to “pre-adoptive care,” which most likely means a pre-vetted foster family that has an interest in adopting the child.
Cole said he doesn’t anticipate there to be long-term medical problems caused by the baby’s extraordinary first few days. “Babies are very adaptable,” he said.
[ back ]
