A newborn girl left at a Los Angeles hospital Friday is the county’s fifth “safe surrender” this year, L.A. County Supervisor Don Knabe’s office said.

Knabe recently called for better promotion of the Safe Surrender program after the body of a baby boy was found in a South El Monte trash can Thursday.

“After last week’s horrific discovery of an abandoned, deceased baby, I’m extremely thankful that this mother, despite her desperate situation, decided to surrender her baby, and give her a second chance at life,” Knabe said in a statement.

Police found the baby boy’s body in a trash bin after doctors at a local hospital reported that a 20-year-old woman had walked into the facility bleeding profusely, then admitted she had just given birth, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.


She told medical personnel that she left the newborn at a nearby hospital, but hospital officials could find no record of a baby being voluntarily surrendered at area hospitals and contacted the Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies responded to the hospital and discovered the boy’s body near the mother’s residence in the 2600 block of Chico Avenue. He was pronounced dead on the scene, according to the department.

The woman remains hospitalized and is not considered a suspect pending the results of an autopsy and investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Department. She has a 2-year-old daughter who has been taken into protective custody by Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

The Safe Surrender program, established in 2001, allows a parent or legal guardian to confidentially hand over an infant 3 days old or younger to any hospital emergency room or L.A. County fire station. As long as the baby has not been abused or neglected, the person may surrender the baby without fear of prosecution for child abandonment.


The baby girl is the 108th newborn to be surrendered in Los Angeles County since the program began. She is in protective custody and will be placed with families approved for adoption by the Department of Children and Family Services, as is standard practice.

More information about the Safe Surrender Program can be found at www.babysafela.org or via a 24-hour hot line, (877) BABY-SAFE (222-9723).

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Twitter: @Sam_Schaefer

Samantha.Schaefer@latimes.com