Her Life Began in a Plastic Bag. Now, Hopes for a 'Wonderful' Life

Hundreds want to adopt Baby India, an abandoned newborn found in Ga. woods earlier this month
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 29, 2019 11:00 AM CDT
Her Life Began in a Plastic Bag. Now, Hopes for a 'Wonderful' Life
In this image made from police body-cam video on June 6, a deputy tears a plastic bag open to take a baby out of it in a wooded area in Cumming, Ga.   (Forsyth County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Baby India had an admittedly rough start to life, but the newborn abandoned in the Georgia woods earlier this month is doing well and now has lots of people hoping to make her their own. The director of the state's Division of Family and Children Services tells the New York Times that 200 families were already on Georgia's waiting list for adoption, but since the news of Baby India hit, more than 700 more inquiries have come in. "I even had somebody message me on LinkedIn," Tom C. Rawlings says. As for how India, now about three weeks old, is faring: "She's doing really well," Rawlings tells USA Today. "She's gaining weight, she's very happy ... and she loves to be sung to."

Rawlings says the agency is trying to get India placed with an adoptive family on an interim basis within the next few days, with the finalization of a "forever home" expected to take between six to 12 months. State officials are hoping the publicity surrounding India's case will spur other people tempted to abandon their babies to take advantage of Georgia's "safe haven" law instead, which allows a mother to leave a newborn up to 30 days old at a fire station, hospital, or other approved site without legal repercussions. In India's case, "this is a story that could have been tragic but is going to have a wonderful ending," Rawlings tells the Times. (Watch the recording of Baby India's dramatic rescue.)

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