A family recalls the shocking moment when they found a newborn abandoned on their back patio while a desperate search was made for the girl’s mother.
Police are deeply concerned about the mother who left the newborn in a complete stranger’s backyard in Blacktown, western Sydney, on Friday afternoon.
Ann Carlos and her family had moved into the house on Girra Road a week earlier.
Her sister Lara was hanging out the laundry on the back patio when she heard faint cries.
She found a naked baby girl – barely an hour old – lying in a wicker wicker chair, still covered in birth fluid and with the umbilical cord still attached.
A newborn baby girl was found abandoned in a family’s backyard on Friday
The family wrapped the chilly newborn in a towel before calling triple-0 as paramedics instructed them over the phone on how to clamp the umbilical cord.
“I couldn’t find anything in the kitchen so I grabbed a shoelace and used it…then they (paramedics) told me how to do it,” Ms. Carlos recalled The Daily Telegraph.
“We knew she was born very recently, just hours before, because she still had the white stuff (vernix) on her head.”
She believes the newborn was cleaned before being dumped in their backyard because there wasn’t much blood on her.
Ms. Carlos recalled hearing the side gate slam loudly around 2pm, when she thought it was her brother-in-law.
“But now we realize that must have been the mother or whoever left the baby here, and they loudly closed it so we would go out and find her. You don’t slam a gate if you don’t want to be heard,’ she said.
Police spent the weekend searching the Blacktown neighborhood as the desperate search for the newborn’s mother continues
With three children of their own, the family had enough clothes on hand to warm the baby by the time police and paramedics arrived at the house.
How and why the newborn ended up in the child-friendly backyard, equipped with a swing, children’s bicycles, toys and a mini trampoline, remains a mystery.
The baby was taken to Blacktown Hospital where she was given a clean bill of health and is doing ‘fine’.
She will be cared for by the Ministry of Communities and Justice after she is released from hospital.
The desperate search for the baby’s mother continues for three days after the baby is found.
Investigators spent the weekend interviewing neighbors with serious fears for the health and well-being of the baby’s mother
Police have issued an appeal to the public, assuring the woman that she is not in trouble and they just want to know that she is okay after giving birth.
“We are very concerned about her health,” said acting superintendent David McInerney.
“The delivery can be quite traumatic and we are concerned for her safety and well-being, both physically and mentally. We’re trying to help her.
“It’s very worrying, but she’s not bothered by the police. I want to emphasize that.
“We appeal to her to step forward, get help, and let us help her.”
“We don’t know exactly where the child was born, except it wasn’t in a hospital, so we’re concerned for the mother,” Insp McInery said.
Detectives combed the neighborhood over the weekend and urged any witnesses to come forward.
They think the mother would have been upset and was probably visibly pregnant.
Anne Carlos’ sister was washing up when she found the newborn in a nearby wicker wicker chair
Police confirmed to 2GB on Monday morning that they are still searching for the baby’s parents.
Officers have praised the family’s efforts to find the newborn on their back patio.
“They were in complete shock,” Detective Jason Petruska told Ben Fordham.
“They’ve done an amazing job taking care of the baby, making sure the baby was okay and they’ve been so helpful in this process so far by providing so much valuable information.
“They gave the baby the help it needed at the time.”