Crime

Dead Baby Found in Duffle Bag

October 31, 2022

A newborn baby was found dead just outside of a fire station in Chicago, Illinois, where he could have been safely dropped off, if the mother had followed the proper procedure.

The firehouse crew at the North Orleans Street station discovered the horrific scene when they emerged from the building at 5 a.m. in the morning to shovel snow.

When they walked outside, they found a duffel bag almost completely covered in snow. Inside the bag was a newborn baby boy, already deceased. It is not yet clear how long the newborn had been left outside in Chicago’s freezing temperatures.

“If the baby was placed there alive, that baby froze to death,” Dawn Geras, of the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation, told ABC7. “This is Chicago. It gets cold at night. You can’t leave a baby out to the elements.”Every state in the U.S. has Safe Haven Laws, though the exact terminology of the laws vary state to state. In Illinois, parents are able to give up a baby at a designated place — such as a hospital, fire station, or police station — within 30 days of the child’s birth, as long as the baby has not been harmed, no questions asked. But there is one more important detail: At least one member of staff must be notified.

“It makes me feel like I failed,” Geras told ABC7, tearing up. “There was one other woman out there that didn’t know about the law or how to use it, and because of that, there’s a dead baby on the doorsteps of a fire house. It shouldn’t happen.”

“They were so close to doing the right thing. Why didn’t they take that extra two steps,” she added. “I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say anymore. I want to scream and yell.”

According to the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation, since the safe haven law passed in Illinois in 2001, 144 infants have been safely handed over, while another 89 were illegally abandoned. Of those 89, half did not survive.The newborn’s death is being investigated by Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

A few hours after finding the boy’s body, Chicago Fire tweeted a reminder of the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act.”Illinois’ Safe Haven law is a safe way for parents who make the difficult choice to give up a newborn for adoption. Handing over a newborn to a Firefighter or Paramedic directly at a firehouse can help facilitate the safest outcome. No questions asked and no judgment given,” the tweet read.https://twitter.com/CFDMedia/status/1482439947265138688