A premature newborn baby was discovered on New Year’s Eve, abandoned in the frigid Alaskan Interior. The woman who discovered the baby also recovered a heartbreaking note left by the baby’s mother.
What are the details?
The Alaska Department of Public Safety confirmed that a newborn baby “was found abandoned in a cardboard box” on the afternoon of Dec. 31 at approximately 2 p.m. local time.
At the time, the temperature in Fairbanks was 1 degree Fahrenheit.
According to authorities, the baby was not exposed to the frigid elements for an extended amount of time, and after being evaluated at a local hospital, the baby was determined to be healthy.
“The child was alive and seemed to have been abandoned at the location recently. There was a note left with the child indicating the parent could not take care [of] it. The child was transported by EMS to a local hospital and was found to be in good health,” the Alaska DPS said.
What did the note say?
The heartbreaking note was shared on Facebook by Roxy Lane, the woman who found the baby.
The note read:
Please help me!!! I was born today on December 31, 2021 (at) 6 a.m. I was born 12 weeks premature. My mom was 28 weeks when she had me. My parents and grandparents don’t have food or money to raise me. They NEVER wanted to do this to me. My mom is so sad to do this. Please take me and find me a LOVING FAMILY. My parents are begging whoever finds me. My name is Teshawn.
In her Facebook post, which has since been deleted, Lane expressed compassion for the mother who abandoned the child.
“Clearly, someone in our community felt so lost and hopeless that they made probably the hardest choice of their lives to leave that innocent life on the side of the road with nothing but some blankets and a name,” she wrote. “But she named him! There’s some love there, even if she made a terrible decision.”
Lane urged her community members to identify the mother, whom she noted may require medical attention for delivering a premature baby and because she “might be in a desperate situation, feeling abandoned herself.”
Helpfully, Lane also explained that Alaska has an established avenue for surrendering newborn children.
That law, the Safe Surrender of Infants Act, permits parents of an infant less than 21 days old to surrender the child to law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical services providers, health care workers including doctors or nurses, or “any person the parent reasonably believes would keep the infant safe and provide appropriate care.”