86 pointsby Michelangelo113 hours ago9 comments
  • FartyMcFarter2 hours ago
    Everything about this story is so satisfying, that if I read it in a lesser source I would be doubting it.

    The person finding the baby was the person who eventually adopted him. The judge asking the guy to adopt the baby was the same judge that performed the wedding of the couple doing the adoption. Just so many great details.

    • wood_spirit43 minutes ago
      Many of us could easily imagine, once chance puts us in the position of the person who can’t walk past, taking a concerned interest in the outcome and, realising that the baby would go into the care system, stepping up and doing the massive step of talking it upon ourselves to provide that home?
    • throeididkf2 hours ago
      Satisfying? I wish they would find and punish child abuser, who did this! There are safe better ways to "dispose" unwanted baby, there is zero reason to dump living human baby into bin or leave it in dumpster in metro!
      • arethuza4 minutes ago
        Personally I would be more worried that the woman that had just given birth received the appropriate medical attention and help with whatever circumstances made her feel that she had to abandon her child.
      • an hour ago
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      • croes2 hours ago
        Where does it say the baby was in a dumpster or bin?
    • tomcam2 hours ago
      [flagged]
      • 2 hours ago
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  • Digit-Alan hour ago
    I find this story slightly odd. I'm not trying to suggest it's not true, I have trust in the Guardian not to print falsehoods; but do they really offer abandoned babies to just anyone in America?

    Here in the UK, I used to work with a guy many years ago who was trying to adopt. He and his wife had to go through months and months of vetting and paperwork to be allowed to become adopted parents. You basically have to prove that you are fit to be a parent. And yet in this story a court basically says "hey, you wanna adopt this baby you found? Yeah? Here you go."

    Sounds like this guy I knew should have moved to America. He and his wife could have just pulled up to an orphanage, said "I'll take that one", and been parents immediately - if this story is anything to go by.

    • Anon8435 minutes ago
      I can’t confirm or deny the Guardian story, but I do personally know someone who found a small baby in a bus in Kenya and preceded to adopt and raise her.
    • hartatoran hour ago
      I feel adoption is either super easy or super hard. No one claims the system is fair. It can also be the article skipped on these difficulties for a better headline.
    • XorNot33 minutes ago
      My understanding is there's a very - superficially weird - sort of logic at play with this though.

      Basically if we're going to take a child not presently abandoned or in danger, and place them with someone, we need to know damn well that we're not worsening the situation for the child.

      But if you have a child who was already abandoned and in danger, and you start looking after them unprompted, the situation for the child has already improved and almost any other action will worsen it - i.e. it's generally accepted that children being wards of the state is a worse outcome in almost all circumstances compared to a dedicated parent.

      A comparable example I suppose would be the question of what's the best strategy for seeking help if you're lost: basically, statistically, it's approach the first person you see and ask for help. Because the occurrence rate of predators in the population is low, so the first person you see is unlikely to be one. But if you stand around for a while looking like you need help, well now you're obviously a target and the chances of someone who approaches you intending ill-intent rises.

  • sevenseacat2 hours ago
    What a lovely story, what a lucky family to have found each other!
  • wrecked_em3 hours ago
    A great, beautiful story! :)
  • singingwolfboy3 hours ago
    • kasperni3 hours ago
      Guardian is not behind a paywall?
      • GaProgMan2 hours ago
        Here in the UK, you have to either pay a subscription fee or accept ALL of their tracking cookies in order to read their articles.
        • CTOSian5 minutes ago
          Or just toggle JS on their site mate
        • Digit-Alan hour ago
          I know a lot of people like to dump on Firefox, but a number of paywalls, including the Guardian one, completely disappear when you use it. For those that don't, some of them disappear if you use reader mode.
        • andrepd2 hours ago
          Isn't that the choice people on hn claim to want to have? Let me pay for journalism and not be tracked please.
          • applfanboysbgonan hour ago
            You may be surprised to learn that there is more than one person on HN, and also that among the group of people made up of more than one person, some of them have different opinions than others.
  • wazoox2 hours ago
    That's a good heartwarming story to start the weekend :)
  • globular-toast2 hours ago
    This made me want to listen to 2Pac.
  • futter92 hours ago
    [dead]
  • aerodogan hour ago
    [flagged]