Police Seek Clues in Baby Doe Mystery

The sign on the door read: “Visiting Limited to Parents Only.”

But there have been no visitors for Baby Doe, who slept Monday afternoon in an incubator in the neonatal intensive care unit of Childrens Hospital of Orange County.

The 5-day-old boy was abandoned by his mother last Thursday, then found in a trash bin at about 11 p.m., two to four hours after his birth.

“We think it’s very important for the parents to interact with the babies,” said Dr. David Hicks, a neonatology-pulmonary specialist in the unit who treated and continues to monitor Baby Doe. “But at this time the kid looks really good.”

Once or twice a year, Childrens Hospital in Orange receives a Baby Doe, an abandoned infant in need of medical care, Hicks said.

“It’s hard for me to understand . . . why parents would throw a baby away,” he said. “There are a lot of places you could take the baby--the police station, the fire station--leave it on the porch and ring the bell.”

While Orange police attempt to learn the identity and whereabouts of the infant’s mother, countless other would-be parents already are offering to care for and even adopt Baby Doe.

No Leads

“We have not been able to come up with any leads whatsoever and . . . there have been no calls to the Police Department” from anyone with knowledge of the mother’s identity or whereabouts, said Orange Police Sgt. Paul Ordonez.

But at Orangewood Children’s Home, the county’s emergency shelter, it has been a different story.

“Our phones have been ringing off the hook with people who want to take (Baby Doe) in as a foster child or adopt him,” Director Bill Steiner said.

“If no one comes forward or is identified as a relative, he will be placed into foster care and eventually adoption. In Orange County, we have couples waiting years to adopt a newborn infant.”

Paramedics transported Baby Doe to Childrens Hospital, one of the two hospitals in Orange County that offers neonatal intensive care. (UCI Medical Center in Orange is the other, Hicks said.)

On many calls, paramedics attempt treatment at the scene or en route to a hospital, Hicks said. But Baby Doe was “a scoop and run operation,” said Hicks, who also trains paramedics.

“I tell them (paramedics), ‘These are kids: don’t play around. Just scoop it and run,’ ” Hicks said.

In last Thursday night’s cold conditions, Baby Doe’s temperature had fallen below 87 degrees and his heart rate had slowed to about one-third normal, Hicks said.

“They didn’t have a thermometer low enough” to measure the infant’s temperature, he said.

The lowering of body temperature and heart rate served as a protective compensation for the child, he said. In such cases, Hicks said, the child must be warmed gradually with heat lamps and air to avoid shock or burns.

Because there was no mother’s medical history to draw from, tests had to be run beyond those required for the premature children who make up the majority of those cared for in the unit.

“We didn’t know if mom was a drug addict or whether she had a history of hepatitis or not,” he said.

After tests, Hicks said, there was no evidence of drugs in the baby’s system, but “we did find that mom had a history of hepatitis,” and antibiotics were administered.

Despite the intense cold that had slowed the child’s heart rate and lowered his temperature, “his neurological system looks pretty good,” Hicks said. “He won’t be in here that long.”

Answers Could Be Helpful

Still, medical authorities would benefit by knowing the mother’s identity, Hicks said.

Unanswered questions about the mother’s medical history could be helpful in caring for the infant, he said.

“Was the birth particularly troublesome for the baby?” said Hicks. “She (the mother) may tell us whether the baby would be infectious to other babies.”

Anne Gethard, the nurse assigned to Baby Doe, said he requires extra attention, as do children whose mothers are unable or unwilling to visit the unit for “bonding” with their newborns.

“We give extra time in terms of holding and talking to the babies,” she said. “Babies definitely need affection in order to thrive.”

Gethard said she too is “upset to think that this baby was found accidentally.” But she also said she pities the mother.

The mother, she said, “must be in a very desperate situation.”

Despite the extra attention, Gethard said, a baby benefits most from its mother’s presence.

Gethard said she is certain that a newborn can distinguish the touch and even odor of its mother and will even respond to its mother’s voice in a way it will not to others. After all, she said, the child has “heard it for nine months.”

While Baby Doe remains in Childrens Hospital, Orange County Juvenile Court proceedings are scheduled for today to formally place the child under protective custody of the county.

Abandoned 16-Month-Old

Meanwhile, Juvenile Court authorities also are expected today to take up the issue of temporary custody for Joshua David Walsh, a 16-month-old boy who was abandoned in the early morning hours the same day that Baby Doe was found in a trash bin. Joshua’s mother, Danette (Dee) Walsh, 19, identified as a transient, is being sought by Garden Grove police in connection with child endangerment charges.

Joshua, who is being cared for at Orangewood, is in good condition, although he had been running a fever, Steiner said. The boy had “several bruises on his body,” Steiner said. But officials have been unable to determine whether the bruises were from a fall or evidence that he had been physically abused.

There have been 225 children ranging from 3 days old to 17 years old admitted at Orangewood in the past month for abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation and other reasons, Steiner said.

Baby Doe and Joshua “are two of many, many who are brought in here. Let’s hope this tragic situation isn’t going to recur in the near future,” Steiner said.