The newborn baby who was recently discovered swaddled inside a plastic bag in Oregon woods reportedly has thousands of families willing and eager to adopt her and become part of the miracle that is her survival, CNN reported.
Lovingly dubbed Baby India, this little girl has astonished people all around the world with her story that began as a tragic discovery but soon turned into a miraculous tale of hope.
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On the night of June 6, a father and his three daughters were outside when they heard sounds coming from nearby woods.
The Ragatz family, who Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman has described as being “true heroes” , set out to uncover the source of the noise and stumbled upon a baby that had been wrapped up in a plastic bag and discarded on top of a pile of sticks and leaves. Her umbilical cord was still in place, telling them that this was a newborn.
Forsyth County Sherrif’s Deputy Terry Roper responded to the family’s 911 call and arrived on scene to see the baby for himself.
“Once I got there and was able to see she had no obvious injuries, I was able to pick her up and take care of her. Your fatherly instinct kicks in,” he explained. “You just want to show love to a child that had never known it before — the only thing she knew was being in a bag.”
In an effort to try and find the abandoned baby’s mother, police released a portion of the body cam footage from the rescue.
The video shows the rescued child being carefully removed from her plastic bag and expertly swaddled in a blanket by the responding deputy before she was handed over to the Emergency Medical Service.
Even after she was safe inside a hospital, Roper said he didn’t want to leave her alone.
He knew she needed medical attention though, so he gave Baby India the space she needed for doctors to take care of her.
“I came back later that night and saw her when she was still in the NICU and the next night she was transferred to a regular nursery area and the staff at the hospital was kind enough to let me in and hold her again,” Roper said.
As of right now, she is in a “wonderful protective home,” said Tom Rawlings, director of the state Division of Family and Children Services.
“She’s gaining weight and smiling a lot,” he reported. “She’s an easy baby who loves to be held and sung to, and she’s overall thriving now.”
While Baby India has been reported as doing “fantastically well,” authorities are still on the search to find the girl’s mother.
In a Facebook post updating the eager public on the baby’s status, Forsyth Police said they still have no information about the baby’s mother or any relatives and are still actively asking for any information anyone can give.
Although the baby’s beginnings still remain a mystery, Rawlings said there has been no shortage of people eager to make the rest of her life much better.
He told Good Morning America that Baby India has thousands of people “waiting in line” to adopt her.
“She cried out for help. We’ve had, literally, thousands of people across the country and other parts of North America come forward wanting to adopt Baby India.”
Anyone who is interested in throwing in their bid to adopt this beautiful miracle baby can still do so.
As of right now, there have been no formal decisions made on when Baby India will find her new family, but Rawlings is confident they’ll find the right family for her.
“In child protective services we deal with a lot of tragedy, of course, but it’s great to have a miracle,” he said. “And this truly is a miracle.”
He added, “I’ve been working child protective services for almost 20 years now, this is one of the most exciting, wonderful miracles I’ve seen in my life.”
h/t: CNN , Good Morning America
