How could we let this happen? A child was abandoned and forced to walk around a Queens street barefoot for who knows how long?
If only the infant dumpster plan that Rudy Giuliani introduced in the mid-90's hadn't been disbanded for (supposedly) homeland security concerns after 9/11, the kid's parents could have left her safe and sound in one of these specially designated Infant Dumpsters, where New York's finest sanitation workers would have found her fairly quickly.
Meanwhile, her name's Valerie; she says her mother's name is Monica, her father is Cesar, and her cat is Gary. She also said that she had another father, Felipe. Any leads? Call Crimestoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Authorities Are Trying to Find Parents of Girl Found in Queens [nyt]
New York To Install Special 'Infants Only' Dumpsters [theonion, c.1997]
[Update: they found out who she was, but not why the daddy who lived with her and her mommy drove her to a street in Queens and told her to get out of the car at 1AM. The mystery deepens, but someone's clearly not familiar with the Infant Dumpster program.]
I see this story has a not so happy ending... at least not for the mother. Well, I guess not for the little girl who now has no mother, either...
[yeah, suddenly very unfunny. as if the idea of making it easier for crackheads to leave their babies in dumpsters was a kneeslapper in the first place... -ed.]