CLINTON, MASS. (WHDH) - An investigation underway after a baby was abandoned outside Clinton Hospital early Monday morning.
Clinton police say it was around 2:30 a.m. when a UMass Memorial Health Alliance Hospital worker found the newborn in the parking lot.
“The baby was swaddled in heavy blankets” and “appeared full-term,” according to the police report. The child was “left under a bright lamp post light, next to a car door of a vehicle in the parking lot.”
The baby was evaluated and eventually released to the Department of Children and Families.
Passed in 2004, the Safe Haven Act allows a parent to legally surrender newborn infants 7 days old or younger at a hospital, police station, or manned fire station without facing criminal prosecution.
The hospital is a Safe Haven location however police say the child was not placed with an “appropriate person.”
“Though The Safe Haven Act allows a parent to legally surrender newborn infants safely to an appropriate person at a hospital, the key is that the parent has to give the child to a person who can ensure the child’s safety – not leave them unattended in a parking lot,” according to a statement released by the hospital.
Kari Corda works with First Concern Pregnancy Resource Center which has offices in Marlborough and Clinton. The nonprofit provides free counseling, education, and support to women and men facing planned and unplanned pregnancies.
“We were all stunned,” she said. “We always hope to reach people who are in crisis pregnancy situations or even moms and dads who have already had their babies and are in a situation with postpartum, or depression or overwhelmed. We’re here for all of those families. For the moms, dads, and the babies.”
Corda said she wants people to know that help is available before and after pregnancies.
“So they can make a valid, well-thought-out decision and we will support them regardless of their decision,” she said. “We help the families from conception on through indefinitely, there’s no end date for us.”
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