[Sticks]

The debate on abortion got me thinking on this one


Suppose you were to find a basket with a baby at your door.

The baby is alive, there is a note with the baby's name and requesting the finder to look after it as the mother is not in a position to.

Officially people call the police and it enters the social services system.

But instead would you take it in, or at least offer to the authorities to look after it? possibly hoping that the mother might one day return

One of the ladies in our church is a foundling, so she is unable to give medical history beyond her. She is now a grandmother.

I once heard that if a child is abandoned and they can not trace it's mother or father, then it gets a criminal record for being abandoned. It was a long time ago I heard that and I think it was referenced on an Australian Soap. I do know from someone at work, that foundlings where the parents are not traced are made Wards of court, before they enter the care system

If this happened to me, I would try and make sure the chain of evidence was preserved and consult with church members in case anyone was in a better position than me for looking after it and then seek for legal advice. I might offer to the authorities to try and raise the child and tell them the offer was because of my concerns about what I had heard about the infant getting a criminal record for being abandoned.

BTW can anyone confirm or refute this legal point about criminal records, as it kind of motivates what I would do