{"id":172783,"date":"2026-02-11T02:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/172783\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T02:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:03:07","slug":"newborn-baby-found-dead-near-bakersfield-dumpster-police-investigating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/172783\/","title":{"rendered":"Newborn baby found dead near Bakersfield dumpster, police investigating"},"content":{"rendered":"

KERN COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) — Investigators are working to determine if any charges should be filed against a Bakersfield mother after her newborn was found dead near a dumpster.<\/p>\n

The infant was discovered Monday morning behind a business complex at Panama Lane and H street in Bakersfield.<\/p>\n

Authorities describe the mother as a transient and say she’s been hospitalized. Her condition is still unknown.<\/p>\n

California’s “Safely Surrendered Baby” law allows parents to legally surrender a newborn at hospitals and fire stations within 72 hours after giving birth. And the process can be completely confidential.<\/p>\n

“And she doesn’t have to leave any information. No name. There will be no shame, no blame,” Bakersfield Pregnancy Center executive director Erin Rodgers said. “And she has 14 days to change her mind and seek to be reunited with her baby if that’s her choice.<\/p>\n

The Bakersfield Pregnancy Center says in Kern County last year, there were five safely surrendered babies.<\/p>\n

Since the state law was enacted in 2021, 105 infants have been saved in Kern County alone.<\/p>\n

For more about California’s Safely Surrendered law and to find a safe surrender site near you, call 877-222- 9723 or click here.<\/a><\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KERN COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) — Investigators are working to determine if any charges should be filed against a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[82674,151,153,152,82673,61975,294],"class_list":{"0":"post-172783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-82674","9":"tag-bakersfield","10":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","11":"tag-bakersfield-news","12":"tag-newborn-baby-found-dead-near-bakersfield-dumpster","13":"tag-police-investigating","14":"tag-timely"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}