Newborn Baby Abandoned Naked Outside in Cold, Cops Rush Him to Hospital
Some states call them “safe haven laws.” In others, they’re called “Baby Moses laws” in a nod to religious scripture.
But regardless of their name, not everyone knows they exist. They’re statutes designed to discourage and prevent the illegal abandonment of newborns in dumpsters, doorways, and other inhumane locations.
These laws are designed to give abandoned infants a fighting chance, by creating safe and non-judgmental sanctuaries as an option for biological parents. Non-profit organizations like Chicago’s Save Abandoned Babies Foundation have committed themselves to spreading the word about the growing problem of child abandonment.
It’s a troubling issue police officers like Brandon Rossow understand firsthand, and with which adoptive mom Jamie Welser is exceedingly familiar.
Under alternate circumstances, Rossow and Welser may have never met at all. But then, a few years ago, Rossow and fellow patrol officer Derek Paret responded to a call that would change several lives for good.
In May of 2014, Rossow and Paret received word of an abandoned infant found on the porch of a home in Port Huron, Michigan.
According to a Facebook page subsequently created by Welser, the unknown birth mother had wrapped up her newborn “umbilical cord, placenta, and all.” There he lay in a dirty towel, naked and utterly alone in the cold, until a woman out walking her dog discovered him around 4 a.m.
Rossow and Paret rushed the baby to a nearby hospital for emergency care. The infant’s body temperature was dangerously low, and he required extensive intervention to stabilize his condition.
Rossow told the Port Huron Times Herald that seeing that wee one all alone in his hospital room didn’t feel right at all. So the officer brought him a cuddly stuffed bear, wearing a child-sized navy blue shirt and outfitted with his own badge.
Welser met the infant during his extended time of recovery and decided he deserved a loving family all his own. So she adopted the baby and named him Ben.
When Ben was only about five months old, a series of medical tests revealed a severe brain malformation and other grave health conditions. So Welser decided she would give her baby boy the best life he could possibly experience.
She set about making a bucket list of heartwarming adventures for Ben. She also created a Facebook page called “Benjamin’s Superheroes,” where others could keep track of his progress.
One key item on that bucket list was allowing Ben to meet the kindly policeman who had saved him. So a reunion was recently arranged at Port Huron’s Pine Grove Park.
As Rossow approached Ben, the officer instantly recognized what the toddler was cuddling close to his chest. It was that very same stuffed bear, in that very same blue shirt.
Rossow told the Times Herald that Welser said the bear has remained vitally important to young Ben. “I got pretty emotional,” the officer recalled. “I didn’t expect that.”
Ben’s Facebook page emphasizes that his health issues are incredibly severe. The boy’s doctors can’t say for sure how much time he may have left on this earth.
But Welser is tremendously grateful for every single moment with her amazing little boy. The final passage on “Benjamin’s Superheroes” summary page may sum up her sentiments best: “Every day that Benjamin is still here is a miracle.”
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