Identity of newborn abandoned in Henrico still a mystery

Nearly a week after a naked newborn was found on the front lawn of a house in eastern Henrico County, the identity and whereabouts of the parents remained a mystery yesterday.

The baby boy, meanwhile, is starting a new chapter in his already eventful life, this time under the guardianship of Henrico social-services officials. And authorities are trying to come to terms with why a child probably less than a day old was left on a lawn when help was only a short distance away.

"It is very, very disturbing to think that someone made the decision that was made, given the resources we have throughout Virginia," said Jane Crawley, the county's social-services director.

Henrico police Lt. Doug Perry said authorities were continuing to work yesterday to develop leads in the case.

A woman out for an evening walk Aug. 27 saw the newborn shortly before 9 on the front lawn of a home in the 4400 block of Samara Drive.

The neighborhood is a short drive from VCU Medical Center, one of the hospitals covered by a 2004 state law to give troubled parents a safe haven for their children.

The safe-haven law allows parents to take their children within the first 14 days of birth either to a hospital that provides 24-hour emergency services or to a rescue squad that employs emergency medical technicians.

If this is done, parents could be protected from prosecution for abuse, neglect or endangerment. Authorities, in turn, likely would institute proceedings to terminate parental rights.

Child abandonment appears rare in Virginia. The state Department of Social Services said the Henrico baby was the fifth case in Virginia this year after none was recorded either in 2007 or 2008.

Perry said Henrico investigators repeatedly canvassed the neighborhood where the baby was found and checked with area police departments, hospitals and other health-care providers, all to no avail.

Crawley said the baby, who was taken to VCU Medical Center and found to be in good health, has been given a name, which is being kept confidential because of federal privacy laws.

The baby, like other children who wind up in the adoption system, now will be placed in an approved foster home with a goal of finding him a permanent home, Crawley said.

Crawley, who has been with Henrico Social Services for 19 years, said she could recall only one other case of an abandoned baby in the county.

While the state tracks the number of children reported as abandoned, it does not have a separate category for those left under the safe-haven law.

The National Safe Haven Alliance said all 50 states have safe-haven laws, but the District of Columbia does not. The alliance said nationwide numbers for children turned over to safe havens are difficult to determine because of what it called "less-than-perfect reporting methods" that rely largely on local social-services offices.

Officials at VCU Medical Center, the Richmond area's largest hospital, cannot recall any abandoned children being left there in recent years, spokeswoman Malorie G. Janis said.

Crawley said that even though the baby was abandoned, she tried to focus on the positive -- the fact that the woman who had gone out for a walk happened to find herself in the right place at the right time.

"This child certainly had an angel looking over him," she said.

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or .