When the caretaker of a Richmond Hill church found a newborn boy with his umbilical cord still attached in the crèche of its Nativity scene last week, it was a mystery as to who had abandoned him and why.
The police ultimately tracked down a 19-year-old woman who told them she left her child at the Holy Child Jesus Church at 111-11 86th Ave. because she wasn't able to care for him, according to a report.
"I would love to be a mom one day, but right now, I don’t feel I’m ready," the woman told New York Post in her first interview, conducted in Spanish. "I don’t know when the right time would be, but I do need a stable job first."
The mother, who moved to New York from Mexico five months ago, said no one — including the baby's father in Mexico and the aunt she came to live with — knew she was pregnant, and she wants to keep it that way, she said.
"Even now, I’m too afraid to reveal my identity," she told the Post, who quoted her interview anonymously.
The woman said she went into labor alone in her house, and was too afraid to cut her newborn son's umbilical cord. He still had his umbilical cord attached when he was found in the Holy Child Jesus Church, which the mother said she picked as her baby's refuge because "the people there are good,"
"I knew if I left him in God’s hands, he would be OK," she said.
Churches in New York are considered safe havens where a parent can leave a child no older than 30 days without fear of prosecution.
The Queens District Attorney's Office said they decided not to charge the mother after interviewing her and determining that she had followed the spirit of state law, even though her child was younger than 30 days.
What will happen to her baby, who was taken by ambulance to Jamaica Hospital after his discovery at the church?
In such abandonment cases, the city's Administration for Children’s Services typically tries to find relatives willing and able to care for the baby, and if no relatives are identified, the agency looks for a foster care placement and eventually a permanent home.
The boy's mother told the Post she is still thinking about raising him herself.
"It’s my baby, and I am still thinking about keeping him," she said. "It’s not an easy decision."
