Prince George’s County police are searching for the parents of a newborn baby who was found yesterday morning outside a Langley Park apartment building.
The infant boy was found with his umbilical cord still attached at about 6 a.m. by a passer-by going to work. Police said the child was wrapped in a multicolored sweatshirt and was taken to a hospital where he was determined to be in good health.
“He will be kept in the hospital a couple of days, then turned over to the [county’s] Department of Social Services,” said Debbi Sable, a spokeswoman for Prince George’s County police.
Police searched the University City Apartments complex, in the 2100 block of Guilford Road, and talked with residents to find the child’s parents. Anyone with information is asked to call the police department’s Child and Vulnerable Adults Abuse Unit at 301/772-4930.
The discovery of the abandoned child marks the third such incident in 23 days in Prince George’s County.
The first baby, a 7-pound boy, was found dead inside a grocery bag March 15 by landscapers near the Riverview Terrace Apartments in Oxon Hill. An autopsy determined that the boy was alive when placed in the bag.
The infant became known as “Baby John,” and the Fraternal Order of Police collected funds for his funeral March 30.
A baby girl was found March 16 on the back patio of a house in the 9100 block of Simpson Lane in Clinton. The child was about 2 to 3 weeks old and weighed only five pounds. The homeowner found the child at about 3:45 a.m. after hearing noises in the back yard.
The girl was unclothed and wrapped in a white blanket. After a brief stay in a hospital, she was turned over to the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services.
Police have made no arrests in either of the cases.
Two years ago, Maryland became the 38th state to pass the safe haven law, which allows a parent to remain unidentified when giving a baby 3 days old or younger to a hospital.
Maryland law does not specifically describe child abandonment as a crime.
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