On New Year's Day, a newborn baby was discovered outside in a box in Alaska. The child had been abandoned by his birth mother.
Sadly, it was about 1 degree outside when the baby was discovered by a woman, who then called police.
Alaska State Troopers confirmed to KTOO that the baby had been found abandoned but was in good health. The mother of the child had also left a note, detailing her circumstances in an utterly heartbreaking message.
Roxy Lane says she found the baby near a row of mailboxes by her home. In a since-deleted Facebook post, she shared the story.
"Today I found an abandoned newborn in a cardboard at the row of mailboxes by my house," she wrote. "I've been processing my feelings all day and running through all the different scenarios and reasons, with my bf and family, as to why something like this could have happened. I wanted to share some thoughts."
The woman shared images of the note. It said, "I was born today on December 31 2021 6am. I was born 12 weeks premature. My mom was 28 weeks when she had me."
It continued, "My parents and grandparents don't have food or money to raise me. They NEVER wanted to do this to me. My parents lived on Cormorant St.. My mom is so sad to do this.
"Please take me and find me a LOVING FAMILY. My parents are begging whoever finds me. My name is Teshawn."
The post quickly circulated widely. It was viewed over 34,000 times before it was removed. In her post, Roxy asked people not to judge the desperate mother.
"Clearly, someone in our community felt so lost and hopeless that they made probably the hardest choice of their lives to leave that innocent life on the side of the road with nothing but some blankets and a name. But she named him! There's some love there, even if she made a terrible decision," she wrote.
“Honestly this kind of stuff happens more often than you would think,” she continued. “Somewhere along the line we’ve all failed this family…Everyone should have access to basic necessities and shouldn’t feel like they have to abandon their babies for it to have a better life.”
She also asked that if anyone knows the mother who abandoned this child to please reach out and check on her.
Alaska does have safe haven laws that allow for a newborn to be surrendered without penalty. However, not everyone may be aware of those protective laws.
