Sheriff Ron Freeman says a Georgia family found an hours-old baby girl wrapped in plastic, crying in the woods near their home.
“It was divine intervention we found this child,” Freeman said.
Alan Ragetz and his family found the baby when they returned home from a vacation June 6.
His three daughters believe God allowed them to come home at the very moment the baby was crying.
“(We) grabbed our flashlights and we’re driving around, and we’re, like, ‘That doesn’t sound like an animal,'” Kayla Ragatz said.
They demanded their father check it out.
“We went down, pulled it up, there was a poor little baby wrapped in a plastic bag,” Alan Ragetz said. “She was alive, she was crying, so we figured that was a good sign.”
The baby still had her umbilical cord attached.
The Ragatz family said it was an “act of God” they found the baby.
The family called police, and the baby, now named India, is at the Forsyth County hospital.
Freeman is grateful the Ragetz family investigated.
“You don’t anticipate hearing a baby in the woods,” Freeman said. “Thank God they went out and investigated.”
Georgia has a “Safe Haven” law, which means that the child’s mother may leave her baby, up to 7 days old, with an employee of any medical facility including any hospital, institutional infirmary, health center or birthing center in Georgia.
According to savehaven.tv:
A distressed parent who is unable or unwilling to care for their infant can give up custody of their baby, no questions asked. They must simply bring the infant to a safe haven location and make sure they locate a person to give the child. As long as the child shows no signs of intentional abuse, no name or other information is required. The specific locations and maximum age of the child varies from state to state. You can find the details of for your location by using our Safehaven Finder. It’s safe. It’s anonymous. You do not need to tell anyone.
Linda Znachko, founder of He Knows Your Name ministry, works with safe haven laws around the country.
“John 14:18 says, ‘I will not leave you as orphans I will come for you,'” Zanchko says. “These words are spoken by the Good Shepherd. Jesus, talks about how He calls His own sheep by name, and He leaves the 99 and goes after the one. This whole story reflects the heart of God for His children. The compassion and relentless pursuit that these people went and hunted down the lost baby, knowing the sounds were not from an animal, are such a beautiful sign of rescue. It is such a blessing to hear that the first responders had compassion and wanted to name this child ‘India.’
The Forsyth County police are still searching for the mother.
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