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10-hour-old baby found naked and abandoned outside home

Posted at 3:50 PM, Nov 06, 2014
and last updated 2014-11-06 15:50:00-05

BELTSVILLE, Maryland -- Police in Maryland are looking for the mother of an infant found naked and abandoned outside.

"I walk out to my back porch [on Wednesday] and I heard a baby crying," Khiani Jackson, of Beltsville, Maryland said. "I stepped off my back porch to see what it was and I saw a baby lying in the grass."

Jackson said she picked up the 10-hour-old baby, cleaned her off and called the police.

"It's a blessing for me to have found her," Jackson said. "Anything could have happened to her."

Maryland's Safe Haven Act allows parents to relinquish custody of their newborn babies, up to 10 days old, by dropping the child off at hospitals and police stations. In Virginia, the Safe Haven law extends to children up to 14 days old.

"You can leave your baby, up to 14 days old, with an employee at any hospital emergency room or an emergency medical rescue squad in Virginia," according to state code.