Mother who abandoned baby in New York church will not be prosecuted

A mother who left her newborn baby in a manger in a New York City church will not be prosecuted.

Queens district attorney Richard Brown said the unidentified mother felt her newborn was in a warm place and would be found safe.

He said the mother had been interviewed about putting her son in a creche at Holy Child of Jesus Church, in Richmond Hill, Queens.

A church custodian found the 2.25kg baby boy on Monday afternoon, after hearing him crying.

He was wrapped in towels and his umbilical cord was still attached.

Emergency crews took the newborn to a local hospital, where he was in good health, police said.

New York has a so-called safe-haven law, whereby a newborn can be dropped off anonymously at a church, hospital, police, or fire station without fear of prosecution.

However, the Abandoned Infant Protection Act, requires that the child be left with someone, or that authorities be called immediately.

Neither of those happened in this case.

Nonetheless, the mother followed the spirit of the safe-haven law, Brown said.

“It appears the mother, in this case, felt her newborn child would be found safely in the church, and chose to place the baby in the manger, because it was the warmest place in the church, and, further, she returned the following morning to make certain that the baby had been found,” he said.