Mother Gives Up Newborn At Baton Rouge Safe Haven Facility

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — State officials say an infant has been handed over to an employee at a Baton Rouge-area fire station under Louisiana's Safe Haven law after the child's mother said she was no longer able to care for the child.

Department of Children and Family Services Secretary Marketa Garner Walters in a statement commended the child's mother for making a "very difficult decision" instead of abandoning the baby.

The baby was transported Tuesday to Woman's Hospital, where it was found in good health. DCFS says the infant will be placed with a foster family and eventually an adoptive home.

The law was established in 2000 and allows children up to the age of two months to be relinquished. So far, 44 infants have been relinquished, most recently one in the Covington area last October.

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