Newborn baby India was found wrapped in a plastic bag at 10 p.m. on June 6, 2019. She was found in a wooded area in Cumming, Georgia, located 50 miles outside of Atlanta.
India still had blood on her and the attached umbilical cord when found. Fortunately, India should have no conscious memory of the abandonment due to the fact she was estimated to be an hour old.
According to Tom Rawlings, director of the Georgia state Division of Family and Children’s Services, over 700 families have applied to adopt baby India and that does not include the 200 families that were already on the Georgia adoption list.
Rawlings tells CNN that India is currently in a safe, loving and healthy foster home waiting for adoption in the next few days.
Investigators are still trying to find the birth mother and father who had abandoned India in the woods to get answers on why they left her behind.
Forsyth County police department released the video of police officers finding baby India in the woods in hopes that anyone would have answers for them.
In the state of Georgia, there is a law called the Safe Haven Law. Safe Haven Law is where the child becomes a ward of the state and decriminalizes parents who leave unharmed infants in a designated safe area.
In other words, it is not illegal for a parent to essentially abandon an infant if the abandoned place is considered to be a designated safe drop off location.
As of now, all fifty states have the Safe Haven Law. Baby India should have not been left in a remote wooded area when there are laws like these to decriminalize the mother.
There are many options for women who are pregnant, and families willing to adopt. Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit organization that provides options and information for women and men about contraception, family planning and reproductive problems.
For more information on Planned Parenthood call 1-800-230-PLAN or go to https://www.plannedparenthood.org/.
According to AdoptionNetwork.com there are 428,000 children in foster care in the United States. Foster parents are always needed and are a huge impact for children in the foster care system.
More than 60% of children in foster care spend 2-5 years in it before being adopted and only an average of 135,000 children are adopted each year.
For more information on how to become a foster parent or for people wanting to adopt call or go to https://adoptionnetwork.com/.
The story of baby India could have been tragic, luckily people were at the right place at the right time.
Sheriff Ron H. Freeman told reporters “You don’t anticipate hearing a baby in the woods… thank God they went out and investigated.”
It was the quick thinking of the gentleman who found baby India and the Forsyth County police department who made sure India was healthy and put into immediate care upon finding her.
It is important for women and families to know about the options they have and to take advantage of them if needed. These options are available in hopes to avoid instances like these.
Nikki Neumann
Reporter