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Death of Newborn Investigated

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Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were still searching Wednesday for anyone involved in the death of a newborn girl whose body was found in a trash bin at a Newhall mobile home park.

A resident of the Polynesian Mobile Home Park looking for recyclables discovered a bag with the infant’s body inside about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, said Lt. Dave Smith. The umbilical cord was still attached, he said.

“We don’t know from the initial observations whether or not the child was alive when it was put in the Dumpster,” said Capt. Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. The cause of death and ethnicity of the child are unknown, he said, adding that an autopsy may take place today.

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The baby is at least the third found dead in the county this year. Last month, a priest found a 2- to 3-month-old boy’s body on the steps of an Inglewood church.

“It’s a tragedy,” said Stuart Riskin of the county Department of Children and Family Services. “Mothers can go to their local hospitals, their local fire stations and safely and legally relinquish these children instead of throwing them away.”

Riskin was referring to the California law that allows parents or legal guardians to give up unwanted children no older than 3 days to designated “safe surrender sites,” such as emergency rooms and fire stations, without fear of arrest or prosecution.

Since 2001, 41 babies have been surrendered in the county, said David Sommers, spokesman for Supervisor Don Knabe, who helped launch the program locally. Five infants have been relinquished this year, Sommers said.

Nearly 30 abandoned babies have died since 2002, said Deanne Tilton Durfee, executive director of the county’s Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect.

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