Mother of newborn baby left on London doorstep located: Police

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The mother of a newborn baby boy left on the front porch of a London home with a note has been identified and located, London police said Friday evening.

“There is no longer a concern for her well-being,” police said in a news release.

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“We would like to thank the public for their compassion and engagement in this situation. Thankfully, everyone is safe,” Det. Insp. Sean Travis said in the release. “As the investigation progresses, we will be limited in what information can be provided to respect the privacy of everyone involved.”

A citizen whose identity hasn’t been revealed called London police at about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday to report a newborn baby had been located on the porch of a home in the area of Sterling Street and Oxford Street East, police said.

Bria Vanier lives in a home on Sterling Street and said she was waiting for lunch to be delivered when there was a loud knock on the door on Wednesday afternoon.

Vanier said she opened the door and found two police officers standing on the porch beside a newborn baby boy wrapped in a blanket.

“They said they didn’t know how to pick up a baby. . . . So I held the baby until the ambulance got here. I immediately attached to it,” she said. “I brought him inside to warm him up. . . . He still had after-birth on him.”

Vanier said there was note with the baby saying he had been born the day before and asking to find him a good home.

The baby was taken by paramedics to hospital where it was in good condition, police said Wednesday.

Officers were concerned for the welfare of the baby’s mother and asked the public for help in locating her, police said.

Police didn’t provide any more information on how they found the mother. Members of the force’s sexual assault and child abuse section continue to investigate, police said.

Eric Vallillee, managing partner of Vallillee Family Lawyers in London, said the Children’s Aid Society London and Middlesex would have been contacted by police immediately.

Criminal charges against the baby’s parents are possible, Vallillee said.

A section of the Criminal Code prohibits unlawfully abandoning or exposing a child younger than 10 to circumstances where the child’s life “is or is likely to be endangered or its health is or is likely to be permanently injured.”