A single, 32-year-old Russian mother of four has been arrested after abandoning her newborn daughter on an anthill to die. A young man came to the rescue of the infant just in time to save her life, and found the baby in a distressing state — covered in ant bites and severely sunburned.
According to Latest LY and The Mirror, after 25-year-old Nikolai Pakhomov heard the infant’s cries and came to the baby’s rescue, the mother, who has been identified as Nadezhda Sorokina, told the police she abandoned her daughter due to financial difficulties.
The Mirror reports that Pakhomov was taking a walk in Milenino, a small Russian village, when he heard a noise that he took to be kittens mewing. Pakhomov was shocked to discover an infant girl, lying an anthill, suffering from the summer sun and insects, and crying desperately for help. Immediately recognizing that the infant’s life was at stake, Pakhomov contacted emergency services on the spot, wrapped the infant in his t-shirt, and rushed her to an ambulance.
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Medical staff confirmed that the infant was out of danger, and a local priest named her Maria Nikolaevna, after her rescuer, Nikolai. Maria Nikolaevna has been placed in child services and a married couple is looking to adopt her, according to The Mirror.
Local authorities discovered and arrested Sorokina, the infant’s mother, who has been charged with attempted murder. Sorokina confessed her crime, claiming she abandoned her baby because she believed she couldn’t afford to raise a fourth child.
Tragically, infant abandonment continues to occur worldwide. Infants are discovered, living and dead, inside dumpsters, for example, where they have been dropped by their parents to die.
In an effort to save the lives of children, each state in the U.S. has a safe haven law allowing parents a certain amount of time to surrender an infant they do not feel they can keep. Multiple states in the U.S. have also installed Safe Haven Baby Boxes, where parents can anonymously place their infants at secure locations, usually at fire stations, where first responders can come to the aid of the infants immediately. Similar organizations are forming overseas. Many of the infants surrendered at Safe Haven Baby Boxes are adopted by loving families, sometimes by the rescuers themselves, and the children are given a chance to live and thrive.
