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Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) has posted a photo with Roos on his social media. That is the girl who was found earlier this week in a park in Merksem. The mayor is now the legal guardian and promises that the child will be “surrounded with all the love”.
“Baby Roos was left as a foundling in the cemetery of Merksem. Thanks to the lovely lady who found her, cared for her and took her to hospital. Roos will be surrounded with all the love, she will lack nothing,” De Wever, who is now Roos’ guardian, writes on his social media.
On Tuesday afternoon, a walker found a newborn baby at the cemetery in the Municipal Park in Merksem. The newborn girl was all alone in the park and is said to have been hypothermic at the time of her discovery. The woman swaddled the baby to keep her warm and immediately took her to the hospital. There she was examined. In the meantime, the newborn baby was named Roos and she remains in good health at the ZNA Jan Palfijn in Merksem.
For foundlings, the Antwerp Center for Child Care and Family Support (CKG) takes care of the child after the initial care. It can then go to a foster family who can adopt the child after the statutory period of six months – the time the mother is given to reconsider her decision. Until then or until the parents are found, Mayor Bart De Wever will have legal guardianship of Roos.