Orange : Mother of Baby Found in Stairwell Arrested

A woman accused of abandoning her newborn baby boy in an Orange hotel was arrested Tuesday and charged with child abandonment, police said.

Tina Marie Michalczyk, 20, of Dracut, Mass., is in custody at the Women’s Jail after a guest at the Hotel Concord found the infant on the second floor of the hotel’s stairwell, Police Lt. Jene Hernandez said.

Michalczyk checked into the hotel alone and told the management she intended to stay a month, a hotel official said.

The 7-pound, red-haired baby is under observation at UCI Medical Center in Orange but appears to be in good condition, Bill Steiner, deputy director of the Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange, said. The baby will remain there for a few days before being transferred to Orangewood, Steiner said.

A Juvenile Court hearing Thursday morning will determine whether the baby will remain in protective custody in Orange or be turned over to relatives, Steiner said. The court normally tries to place abandoned infants with relatives, but if that is not possible, a foster home will be found, he said.

Tina Michalczyk’s father, Walter Michalczyk, said in a telephone interview from Dracut that she had no relatives in Southern California and that she was “just vacationing.” Walter Michalczyk said his daughter had planned to be back home when the child was born. “She must have figured (her term) wrong,” he said.