As officials look for the mother of a newborn found on London, Ont., porch, the woman on whose stoop the baby boy was found is telling her story.
“I have empathy for the mom, for sure,” said Bria Vanier, who lives on Sterling Street near Oxford Street in the city’s east end. She says the newborn was wrapped in a flannel blanket.
“I think this was someone who was in a lot of pain to give up their child. It was someone who was desperate.”
A passerby heard the newborn’s cries early Wednesday afternoon and called 911, police said.
Two officers knocked on Vanier’s door, asking if the baby belonged to anyone in her home.
“I opened the door and there’s two cops standing there and a baby on the doormat, wrapped up in a blanket. It was a little surprising,” she said.
London police call for public help to find mother of an infant found on porch
“They didn’t know how to pick up a baby, so I brought him inside to get him warm. He was the cutest thing. He was just looking around, very alert. He must have been a little confused, but he was a sweet little thing.”
Vanier says a note left with the infant included a plea.
“The note said essentially, ‘Give my baby a good home, I’m not able to care for him.’ It said he was a home birth that he didn’t like bright lights, and she wanted someone to care for him,” she said.
The baby was a day old according the note, Vanier says. She picked him up, brought him inside and cuddled him, keeping him warm until paramedics arrived.
Police want to assure the infant’s parents that he is in good health, and that their primary concern is getting appropriate medical care for the mother, said Det. Insp. Sean Travis of the London Police Service.
Police are “very concerned about the safety of the mother,” Travis told CBC News. “The infant appears well cared for, but reuniting the family so that we can have the proper process take place, such as adoption or reunification as a family unit, is the top priority.”
Such instances are very rare and tug at the heartstrings of officers and other first responders, he added.
“As a parent myself, I understand the attachment and the need of a parent to want to care for their child,” he said. “Our paramount concern is everyone’s safety and then letting a process of community support take its place from there.”
A team of investigators is trying to find the mother, and police are asking anyone with video surveillance footage on Sterling Street north of Oxford Street between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET to contact them at 519-661-5670. Reports can also be made anonymously through CrimeStoppers.
