Baby’s Mother Comes Forward

A young mother who left her week-old child on the steps of a Norwalk church came forward Monday and met with church and sheriff’s officials.

Authorities said the woman, whose identity was being withheld, is not likely to be charged with a crime, because she did not intend to harm the baby boy, who was discovered about 3:30 p.m. Saturday on the steps to the rectory of St. John of God Roman Catholic Church.

“Her main intention apparently was to find a home for her son, who is illegitimate,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Roger Hom said. “She is unable to provide for him and she apparently felt the church would find him a good home.”

Even if the mother was having second thoughts, Hom said, the child is likely to remain in the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services until a judge authorizes a release.

Father Alberto Villalobos, associate pastor of the church, said the mother--believed to be 22--was reassured about coming forward after reading a newspaper article Monday.

Villalobos said the woman contacted Father Bernie Leheny, who met with her and persuaded her to contact sheriff’s deputies.

Leheny “told her he would help resolve the situation,” Villalobos said. “How he’s going to resolve it, I don’t know. That’s all confidential.”

The woman told deputies that, after leaving the brown-eyed, dark-haired child on the rectory steps, she hid behind a row of bushes until the child was found.

The baby, who still had a plastic clamp on its umbilical cord, was clad in a clean diaper and white undershirt and swaddled in two white receiving blankets.

In a note tucked inside the blankets, the mother asked church officials to give the boy a good home, because she had no home of her own. On Sunday, she apparently attended Mass at the church and twice made contact with church officials.

News of the child prompted dozens of parishioners to offer to adopt the baby and provide a job for his mother, church officials said.