Rescued Newborn Goes Home to Foster Family

A newborn boy found in a trash bin in San Juan Capistrano was released from a hospital Friday and placed in a foster home, authorities said.

The baby “is happy and healthy, which is really a miracle given the condition in which he was found,� said Debbie Kroner, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Social Services Agency.

Sheriff’s investigators, meanwhile, continued searching for the boy’s mother. They believe that sometime Tuesday, just hours after his birth, she abandoned the infant in the trash bin at an apartment complex on Paseo Carolina. She could face charges of attempted murder.

The 6-pound 3-ounce baby was found in a trash bag with his umbilical cord and a second trash bag wrapped around his neck. He was rescued by a 71-year-old visitor from Mexico City who said she heard his cries while taking a shortcut across town.

Kroner would not identify the family to which the infant had been entrusted, except to say that it had been carefully screened -- as are all foster families -- with a detailed background check.

Eventually, she said, the family would have the option of adopting the baby, though “if any birth parent or relative should come forward, that might change the situation. It doesn’t look like that’s happening, but you never know.

“If nobody comes forward, then [the foster family] could begin the process.�

The hospital was flooded with calls from people who wanted to adopt the baby, but the Social Services Agency already had 31 approved families on a waiting list for adoption or foster care, making them the first candidates.