MULBERRY, Fla. — A little girl who was abandoned in the woods in Polk County nearly a year ago when she was thought to be only an hour old has been adopted.
The newborn was found early in the morning on January 28 after a woman who lived nearby heard her crying. She was lying in thick brush on the ground, wrapped in a blanket, with an umbilical cord and placenta still attached to her.
Authorities searched extensively for the girl's mother but never found her.
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Now, 10 months after she was found, the little girl has formally been adopted. The sheriff's office said the new parents wish to keep their names from being published, but they shared pictures of the big day.
Florida's Safe Haven Laws allow a newborn up to seven days old to be taken to any Safe Haven facility recognized by state law anonymously and without fear of prosecution. The babies can be surrendered to any hospital, fire station, or EMS station that has a full-time staff in the state.
“You can literally walk up, hand that baby to a firefighter, and drive off, and never disclose who you are, and there’s no criminal liability to that," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at the time the newborn was found.
