Detectives aren't saying why Federal Way woman left newborn

A 22-year-old Federal Way woman walked into the city's police department Monday afternoon and told detectives she had left her newborn daughter on a church doorstep early Sunday.

She answered detectives' questions and provided a DNA sample, but despite officers' urgings, she declined medical treatment. After a two-hour interview, she was driven home, said Cathy Schrock, a spokeswoman for Federal Way police.

"The totality of the circumstances guided our decision not to book her," said Schrock, adding that detectives will forward their case to King County prosecutors for a charging decision.

The woman could be charged with child abandonment, a Class C felony. State law shields parents from prosecution only if an infant is left at a hospital or a manned fire station within 72 hours of the baby's birth.

The baby, nicknamed Autumn Doe by the nursing staff at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Tacoma, is a healthy, 5-pound girl.

"She's not sick, she's not injured, nor has she been abused," said hospital spokesman Gale Robinette. "We have this little baby and she's in great shape."

Detectives aren't saying why the mother left the infant on the concrete stoop outside the glass doors at Steel Lake Presbyterian Church just after 2 a.m. Sunday. But the church's pastor has posted a sign on those glass doors with his cellphone number — a sign he says will stay up for good in case another mother ever finds herself in the 22-year-old's shoes.

"We're praying for both mother and child," said the Rev. Brent Anderson. "I think it's sad. I wish she'd known to bring the baby to a fire department or hospital, and I just hope that word can get out."

Baby was 6 hours old

Surveillance footage from the church shows a young woman leaving the child outside the glass doors. The baby was about 6 hours old when she was left on the doorstep, swaddled in a bloody beach towel. The baby spent nearly six hours alone in 49-degree temperatures before she was discovered by a parishioner and taken to a hospital by police about 8 a.m. Sunday.

Concerned for the mother's well-being, Schrock said, police released details to the news media — and the story spread.

The publicity apparently paid off, Schrock said: At 6:15 a.m. Monday, the woman returned to the church, walked inside but left within two minutes, likely because there was a service under way for a Korean congregation.

The woman then began making phone calls — including one to the lead detective. She left a message sometime before 8 a.m., saying she was OK and wanted the news coverage to stop, Schrock said.

Just after noon, the woman arrived at the Police Department. She understands that leaving the baby was a crime, said Schrock, who could not provide any information about the baby's father.

Officials with Child Protective Services (CPS) are preparing a petition for a hearing in juvenile court later this week to have the baby made a dependent of the state, said Steve Williams, a spokesman for the state Department of Social and Heath Services, which oversees CPS.

The baby will remain in the hospital for the next few days. Caseworkers are looking for a suitable foster family to care for her while the case gets resolved, Williams said.

Safe-haven laws

Many young pregnant women are in denial and often are able to hide their pregnancy, said Kathy Satow of Pekin, Ind., who founded the Newborn Lifeline Network when she was pregnant with her now 9-year-old daughter.

The network operates a 24-hour crisis line and can provide information on safe-haven laws in all 50 states. Last year, the hotline received 1,700 calls from across the country.

Satow said that many people assume young mothers who abandon their babies are teens from underprivileged backgrounds, but she said that's not usually the case.

Instead, she said, they typically are 21- to 24-year-old college students who go "a little haywire" out on their own for the first time, she said. They "don't want to test their security net" — namely their own parents — and so go into crisis once they deliver.

"It's great if we can get a safe baby, and that's our primary goal," Satow said. "But if we can get a safe baby and a safe mom, we've done our job."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com