EVANSVILLE — A newborn turned over by his mother to an Evansville police officer Monday is with a foster family as adoption proceedings begin.
The "recently born" infant was in good condition when dropped off at the Evansville Police Department under the state's Safe Haven Law and was taken to Mercy Hospital, said Charmian Klyve, Rock County Human Services director.
The baby boy was to be transferred from the hospital to a foster home Tuesday, she said.
In relinquishment cases such as this, the county tries to place the child with a foster family possibly seeking to adopt, she said.
"There's every indication (it's a) very positive outcome for this child," she said. "It's great when you can make that type of a match so early in a child's life so they know no other parent than the one that's been caring from them."
Under the Safe Haven Law, a parent can drop off his or her newborn—no questions asked—to a law enforcement officer, emergency medical technician or hospital staff member, as long as the infant is 72 hours or younger.
Under the law, authorities cannot ask for the parent's name.
Rock County has had four of five infants relinquished since the state's Safe Haven Law went into effect in 2004, Klyve said.
Human services has to publish a legal notice seeking to find the newborn's father. The notice would include a range of dates of when the child was conceived, she said.
The Safe Haven Law is meant to keep parents from leaving newborns in garbage cans, bathrooms and other such places when they feel it's impossible to take on the parental responsibilities, Klyve said.
"This is a much better outcome for everyone concerned," she said. "The parent will know the child is being taken care of properly by authorities and will be placed in a good home. The child obviously will be in a more safe environment with people who are truly wanting this child."
On Monday, officials in Dodge County buried an infant, "Baby Theresa," who was found dead in a garbage bag in a woods south of the village of Theresa on April 29. Authorities have not determined the baby's cause of death or mother's identity. Officials said the infant would have been born sometime between April 27 and 29, according to a Wisconsin State Journal article.