Curt Flewelling, FISM News
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A Florida couple is being credited with saving the life of an abandoned newborn baby that they found in the woods behind their home.
The Gregorio family initially thought that the strange sounds they were hearing were just cats fighting, but as the noise persisted, curiosity got the best of them and they went outside to investigate.
What they found was startling. To their shock, they happened upon a newborn, infant girl wrapped in old blankets. Sheriff Grady Judd summed it up this way, “Thank God for neighbors who were inquisitive, and said, ‘that screaming is not right.’”
Sheriff Judd again invoked God when he said, “‘The couple were true heroes’ for doing what they did. It was by the Grace of God that we found the abandoned baby girl when we did before exposure to the cold or any animals caused her any harm.”
In addition to saving the little girl’s life, the Good Samaritans could well have spared the person who left the child from facing criminal charges had the infant died. If this had happened, the case would have tragically turned into a murder investigation.
Precisely because of situations like this, all 50 states have adopted Safe Haven laws. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office took the occasion to make citizens aware of the law that gives parents a safe and legal alternative to abandoning their babies.
“The Polk County Sheriff’s Office would like to remind mothers about Florida’s Safe Haven Law, enacted in 2000, which allows for parents to leave their unharmed newborn child (under a week old) at any Safe Haven facility (hospitals or properly staffed EMS/Fire Station) anonymously, and without fear of prosecution,” the press release states.
According to the National Safe Haven Alliance, many newborns are simply abandoned in the U.S. each year. They are found alive or often, unfortunately, deceased in backpacks, duffel bags, and dumpsters. For whatever reason, some mothers are unwilling or unable to properly care for their newborn children.
The organization is committed to equipping Safe Haven Providers and parents facing unplanned pregnancies with safe alternatives that prevent infant abandonment. Since its inception in 2004, they have chronicled 4,709 “surrenders” nationwide.
Sheriff Judd has affectionately named the baby Angel Grace Lnu. He said he came up with the name because “she’s as beautiful as an angel. It’s by the grace of God she is not dead and Lnu is: Last Name Unknown.”