A newborn baby found abandoned Thursday on a Fort Bragg doorstep is in good condition and was likely delivered without medical help, authorities said.
Tom McCollum, a spokesman for Fort Bragg, said that the baby boy was found about 4 p.m. Thursday in the St. Mere Eglise neighborhood.
Investigators said that the umbilical cord was still attached, pointing to a nonmedical delivery. A resident of the house and a neighbor heard a baby crying, McCollum said. The residents of the house are soldiers at Fort Bragg and asked not to be identified by base officials.
It is unclear how long the baby was on the doorstep.
The baby was taken to Womack Army Medical Center. Doctors believe that he is between three and six days old. Once doctors determine that the baby is stable and healthy, he will be turned over to Cumberland County Child Protective Services, authorities said.
The agency will find the baby a foster family.
McCollum asked for the public's help in finding the mother of the newborn baby.
She was described as a young woman with dirty blonde hair and is believed to be in her early 20s. Police said that the woman was seen carrying a bundle.
The mother would have been protected under the state safe-haven law had she left the baby at a fire station nearby.
The state passed a law in 2001 that allows parents to surrender a newborn to a "responsible adult" such as a firefighter or social worker without fear of criminal prosecution. The law was designed to keep postpartum woman from hurting the baby.
Sherry Bradsher, the director of the N.C. Division of Social Services said that the person-to-person contact is the key. "Doorsteps are never a good option, because assuming that someone is present may not be the case," Bradsher said. "There is no guarantee how long this helpless newborn might stay there before someone finds them."
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