Houston sees 500% increase in abandoned babies since 2022
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - Some would call it a crisis. Six babies have been abandoned in Houston this fiscal year, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
That number is a 50% jump from 2023 when four babies were abandoned, and a 500% increase from 2022 when only one baby was abandoned.
RELATED: Five abandoned, dead babies in last two months in Harris County
FOX 26 has reported on five of the abandonment cases, including two cases where the babies were found dead.
"Just left to die. It's tragic," said Leigha Curry.
She was abandoned the day she was born outside of M.C. Williams High School in 1982.
"I'm the baby that was behind the school. No letter, not nothing. Wrapped tightly in a blanket with my umbilical cord and afterbirth still attached," she said.
She's spent her life learning to heal, grow, and cope with the trauma.
"The whole concept of being abandoned and no one wanting me - you have to grow up with those feelings and coping is difficult," she said.
Curry says she thinks Houston needs more resources for those who want to surrender a baby.
Texas has a Safe Haven law, called the Baby Moses law, which allows parents to legally leave their newborn at a designated safe place such as a hospital, fire station, free standing emergency center, or emergency medical services (EMS) station. The baby must be 60 days old or younger and the parent has to physically hand them off to an employee - who can ask questions concerning the baby's health.
But Curry says the lack of anonymity likely deters many parents from doing this.
According to DFPS, three babies were surrendered through safe haven this year, three last year and two in 2022.
Curry is advocating for Safe Haven Baby Boxes to come to our city.
According to the Safe Haven Baby Box website, there are only two boxes in all of Texas.