Girl, 13, could now face charges after wrapping newborn baby in bloody jeans and dumping him in the trash



A 13-year-old girl whose newborn baby was found dead in a dumpster could now face felony charges.

The baby boy was found wrapped in blood jeans in a dumpster in Country Club Hills, south of Chicago, on Sunday evening.

He was taken to nearby Advocate South Suburban Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 8.17pm.

Grim find: A newborn baby boy was abandoned by its 13-year-old mother in this Country Club Hills, Illinois dumpster

Investigation: Police are looking into the baby's death and have spoken extensively with the mother, who was in hospital Monday morning

Authorities were alerted after the girl arrived at a hospital emergency room having appeared to have recently given birth.

According to the Chicago Tribune, she then confessed to having put the infant in the dumpster and said she was no aware she was pregnant.

The child's father is also reportedly 'another young person'.

It is unclear whether the baby was born alive, but he only weighed 4lbs 2oz. Newborns generally tend to weigh between 6lbs and 8lbs.

In 2001, Illinois established its Safe Haven law which allows new mothers to drop their baby off anonymously at a number of designated locations- like police stations, fire houses, and college campuses- and have the children put up for adoption, no questions asked.

Sad discovery: The abandoned baby boy was taken to Advocate South Suburban Hospital outside of Chicago and pronounced dead an hour later

A group called the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation was instrumental in establishing the law, and, with exception of this latest incident, have been markedly successful.

Since the law was enacted, 64 newborns were abandoned illegally, not including this Sunday's boy.

Of those 64 cases, 31 of the abandoned children died while the others were found and treated in time. Now that number rises to 32.

Advocate: Dawn Geras established the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation in 2001 and has helped find 74 abandoned children adoptive parents

By contrast, 74 had been put up for adoption after being dropped off at the designated Safe Havens.

Dawn Geras established the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation after reading a news article about Alabama women abandoning babies in hospital emergency rooms.

She thought there was a way that she could make a difference in Illinois, which at the time did not have any abandonment laws. Now, theirs is considered one of the strongest Safe Haven laws across the states.

Her sister Diane Jannetto is now the treasurer of the foundation, and when told of the latest incident, she was shocked at the age of the mother.

'That's probably the youngest,' Ms Jannetto said when told of the 13-year-old mother.

After checking records, Ms Jannetto confirmed that in their organization's statistics, they have never heard of a case of anyone younger than 14 years old abandoning a newborn in Illinois.

'The average age is 18-24 or something.'

'It makes us all cry when we hear of a baby dying this way,' Ms Jannetto told MailOnline.

'It's not necessary to die like that.'

Wintery night: It snowed on Sunday and temperatures dropped to the low twenties when the baby was left in an outdoor garbage

The state's law allows mothers to go to designated areas and hand their baby, who must be younger than 30 days old, over to an official at the location and the child will then be passed over directly to adoption agencies.

The only question the officials are allowed to ask the mother is whether or not she would like medical attention, and they are not able to ask for any personal information.

The biggest problems facing advocates like Ms Geras and Ms Jannetto is education and awareness. Ms Jannetto said that many people have a misconception that churches are designated drop-off points but that is not the case.

'They're just not staffed all day,' Ms Jannetto said, recalling a recent case where someone left a baby in a church parking lot.