| Updated: 2/13 10:35 am |
Published: 2/12 6:00 pm
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There's a photo circulating on Facebook asking for help taking care of an abandoned baby in Broken Arrow.
A viewer alerted our newsroom worried it was illegal. FOX23's Dontaye Carter started looking into the story after that message.
KD Nail Salon offered to accept donations for the woman who claimed to be raising the baby boy her friend abandoned.
One of the women working in the salon says she heard the story from a friend of a friend, and stepped in to help.
"Sounds like that could be a child abandonment type of situation," said Corporal Leon Calhoun from the Broken Arrow Police Department.
Oklahoma is a Safe Haven state, meaning a parent can leave a newborn with a medical provider, police officer or firefighter. However, they can't just give a baby to another person.
Calhoun told FOX23 that it is illegal if the state isn't involved. The woman now raising the baby boy says the mother of the child was young and didn’t think she could raise and signed over her parental rights.
"I understand this person may know someone and feel this could be a good guardian for this child however the Department of Human Services needs to be involved," Calhoun told FOX23.
He says it's difficult to get health care for the child or enroll him in school without legal guardianship and questions whether the father was ready to give up his rights.
"Our concern is we got to make sure this child is safe,” said Calhoun. “In a safe environment, legally."
A lot of people have been asking what will happen to the baby now; Broken Arrow Police Department is now following up on this and is waiting to see how Department of Human Service responds.
