The “adorable” hours-old girl was discovered by a neighbor and is “doing okay” while authorities look for the person who abandoned her.
“She was sleeping,” Terrell Phillips, who spotted the wrapped baby about 12:30 p.m. on his neighbor’s porch in Upper Darby Township, told NBC Philadelphia. “No crying. Very quiet. She was just there. When I picked the baby up and opened the towel up, the baby still had the umbilical cord on her.”
Upper Darby police described the hours-old infant in a tweet as “adorable.”
“We need help locating the parents to get them the assistance that they need,” the tweet said.
“Mom, if you’re reading this, call us,” they said.
In a comment to ABC News, Police Superintendent Mike Chitwood said, “Thank God the baby is OK. But to put a 6-hour-old child on a porch wrapped in a blanket is insane, in my opinion. It was 93 degrees yesterday.”
A parent or parents could face a charge of reckless abandonment, according to NBC Philadelphia, even as police tweeted, “The Newborn Protection Act (Safe Haven) states that a parent of a newborn may leave a child in the care of a hospital or a police officer at a police station without being criminally liable, as long as the child is no older than 28 days and is not harmed.”
Said Chitwood: “As long as the baby is not harmed, there is no criminal liability attached to it.”
Phillips said that when he spied the bundle on his neighbor’s porch, “I thought it was some sort of animal or something in there at first, but when I saw a little arm, I walked over and saw the baby.”
His 911 call summoned police, who said the child appeared to have been cleaned up before it was left.
The owner of the home said he hadn’t seen the child when he was last outside around 9 a.m., but it was unknown how long the baby had been there, according to NBC Philadelphia.
Police said the baby is “doing okay” at an area hospital.
“We are receiving an influx of calls requesting information on how to adopt the baby,” the department tweeted. “While we appreciate the outpouring of support, the UDPD is not involved in this process.”
