State 'fathers' shoe box baby

The baby boy discovered in a shoe box in Cospicua on Sunday will be in the hands of the state for the next 21 days after Appogg yesterday issued an interim care order.

"Prima facie we feel this baby should be in the custody of the state, but the baby's family has 21 days to appeal," Joe Gerada, chief executive of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, said yesterday.

If the family fails to contest the decision or if they lose the appeal, a full care order will be issued and the baby will become the responsibility of the state.

"Of course, the state may eventually feel that the child can be reunited with the family. In the meantime, we will be working to find the best environment," Mr Gerada said.

At the moment, the baby, who is healthy and fine, is being cared for at St Luke's Hospital's nursery, within the post-natal ward. However, Appogg is expecting he will be released "at any moment". "The baby cannot be put up for adoption without the parents' authorisation, so, usually, our first line of care will be to place the baby with a foster family. We will continue following the case of the baby's natural mother and maintain good relations," Mr Gerada added.

The baby was discovered by three neighbourhood teenagers on Sunday at about 3.30 p.m. by the side of Guliermu Street, a pedestrian alley on the corer with St Michael's Street. Police sources said the story was still being investigated and at the moment there were "too many different and conflicting versions".

"If the confusion persists, the mother's chances of having her baby back will be greatly minimised. At the moment, the police are more interested in establishing the truth than in pointing fingers," the sources said.

Initially, it had been suspected that the baby had been abandoned on the street round the corner from the house of his 19-year-old mother.

However, the grandmother - who insists she had no idea her daughter was pregnant - told The Times on Monday she had found the shoe box standing vertically against the drainpipe in the washroom and, mistaking it for refuse, took it to the spot where rubbish is normally collected.

There are, however, people who wonder how a person could take a three-kilo box outside without actually checking what was in it and without hearing the baby's whimpering.

The grandmother recounted that her daughter must have given birth alone in the house at 10.30 a.m., cut the umbilical cord herself before wrapping him in a beach towel and placing him in a white shoe box. Two hours after the delivery, she drove to Hamrun to pick up her mother.

Is it physically possible for a mother to give birth unaided and then soon after get into a car and drive away?

The Times contacted Donald Felice, president of the Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, to establish the biological details.

"If everything is perfectly normal, from the baby's position to the mother's health, then giving birth is a natural process," he explained.

"During the doctors' strike (1977 - 1987) we delivered several babies at mothers' homes. Many would deliver and then get up and prepare some coffee. What we have nowadays is mostly pampering and prevention.

"The problem could have been the umbilical cord. However, it seems the girl knew what to do in this case. The other problem is when a baby is born it tends to need some resuscitation and cleaning of the airways, but not always, as happened in this case."

Asked if a baby could survive without any food and in a box placed vertically, Dr Felice said babies were very resilient.

He explained that whether the box was placed vertically or horizontally did not make much of a difference. However, if the baby was placed upside down inside the box it could pose a bit of a problem.

"What the baby needs to survive in the first few hours is oxygen and warmth, because they get cold very quickly. They can survive without eating for at least 24 hours. In this case the baby's condition would have suffered if he remained out on the cold street for a long time," he added.

A psychiatrist, who did not wish to be named, said it was very uncommon for a baby to be abandoned so soon after childbirth.

"Serious psychosocial situations or severe psychiatric illness can bring this on," he said.