Published: July 10, 2008 10:17 am      

Baby girl legal action swirls

State moves to end rights of parents who dropped newborn off at firestation

San Marcos — A baby girl abandoned at a San Marcos fire station last month is “doing well and gaining weight as expected” with a foster family that wants to adopt her, but even as they are settling in, legal proceedings continue to swirl.

On Wednesday, Hays County posted a public notice meant for the parents of the girl who authorities believe was abandoned under Texas’ “Baby Moses” law informing them that the state intends to terminate their parental rights.

District Attorney Sherri Tibbe said the notice, and lawsuit that will proceed through the courts, is just the next step that has to be taken in the process.

“We have to file a lawsuit affecting the parent/child relationship and give notice to anybody who might be this child’s parents,” Tibbe said.

“We will be moving to terminate the parental rights. Even though this child was abandoned, there are certain legal steps we have to take.”

Tibbe said the state is representing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) in the litigation. “We’re starting the legal process.”

Chris Van Deusen, DFPS spokesman, said the process is necessary “just to make sure there’s not somebody out there looking for this girl who is a parent that wants to have custody of her; to make sure (the baby) wasn’t a victim of kidnapping or there isn’t a father out there who may be looking for this child.”

Tibbe agreed. “We don’t know where this baby came from. We’re putting the notice out there in case there’s a missing child.”

The 5 lb., 10 oz., baby girl still had the stub of her umbilical cord attached when firefighters at the Broadway Fire Station heard what they thought were kittens outside.

Instead, they discovered the baby in a diaper bag.

The baby was checked out at Central Texas Medical Center before being placed with the foster family.

Under the “Baby Moses” law, which was passed by the Legislature in 1999, a parent may surrender a child younger that 60 days at a designated “Safe Place” and be exempt from any prosecution.

Days after she was found, Van Deusen called the case a situation “for which the law was designed.”

Fire authorities, however, pointed out that it would have been better had whoever left the child taken it inside and handed her over personally. Under the law, a person receiving a surrendered baby may not ask questions about the parents’ identities but may ask for a voluntary disclosure of the child’s medical facts and history.