Baby girl's DNA being used to find parents

Prosecutors have requested permission to take samples from the one-month old abandoned girl who was found near a mosque last week.

Prosecutors have requested permission to take DNA samples from a baby girl abandoned in Ajman to help locate the parents. The one-month-old child, found near a mosque last week, is still at the Sheikh Khalifa Hospital in Ajman, Tariq Rashid, the director of the Ajman Public Prosecution said yesterday. "We have asked the directors of the hospital to take DNA samples of the baby," he said. "We shall then have to match them with some suspected mothers that visited any of the country's hospitals recently."

If authorities fail to locate the parents, authorities "shall have to place her in one of the home care centres in the country", he said. Ajman does not have such a centre, he said. Babies abandoned in the emirate are placed in one of neighbouring Sharjah's care centres. The problem of abandoning babies is growing in the Northern Emirates. Sharjah has reported nine cases this year. The hospital has given them the baby's fingerprints, said Brig Ali Alwan, the director general of the Ajman Police. Authorities are comparing them with the fingerprints the hospital has of several babies recently born in the emirate.

"We still hope we can find the parents," he said. "We have many investigation methods at our disposal that can help." A sentence of one year in prison or a fine of not less than Dh10,000 can be imposed upon a parent who endangers the life of a child. The punishment is followed by deportation if the parent is an expatriate. The abandoned infant is doing well, said Dr Abdul Mutty Younous, the director of the hospital.

"She has made good progress from when she was first admitted at the hospital. She was suffering from fatigue because of being away from her mother for some time," he said. A baby found abandoned in Sharjah's Kalba district was also reported to be still in the hospital. A source from the hospital said that they planned to keep her for about one month or more until she got stronger. The baby was abandoned when she was just 12 hours old, the youngest of those abandoned this year in Ajman and Sharjah. @Email:[e-mail]