Adoptive Parents Abandon Baby Born With Rare Genetic Condition

A baby was abandoned at the hospital by her adoptive parents after being born with the rare Treacher Collins Syndrome, with her adoptive mother claiming the baby was “not what she hoped for” as she fled.

The girl, named Abigail Lynn, is now five months old and living with her biological birth mother in Florida. She was born on January 11th 2016, and her birth mother had organised for the little girl to be adopted by an unidentified couple from Georgia. But things too an unexpected turn after Abigail was born.

“I spent the better part of last year pregnant and I was planning on giving Abigail up for adoption [sic],” Biological birth mother Christina Fisher explained on the GoFundMe page she launched after being left with the child. “She was born with Treacher Collins syndrome to our surprise… it was not detected in the amniocentesis or in the ultrasound.”

According to Ms Fisher, she decided to give Abigail up for adoption after raising one child and not seeing herself raising another. She wanted to find the child a loving home, and chose the couple who were to adopt Abigail through an adoption agency.

However, Abigail’s adoptive parents ran from the hospital, with the woman crying after seeing the baby, who due to her Treacher Collins diagnosis has underdeveloped facial structures. They never made contact again. In Abigail’s case the condition meant her face has underdeveloped cheekbones, ears and jaw. The condition does not stop Abigail from living a normal life, but she’ll never look like an average child, and clearly this was too much for her potential adoptive parents to handle.

The adoption agency is reportedly disgusted by the reaction of the adoptive parents, noting that the couple had been flagged and would be investigated in the future.

Left unexpectedly with a baby, Ms Fisher has appealed to the public to help in raising some funds to take care of Abigail, with many in her local community donating cash and goods to help her get set up. Her GoFundMe page sits just short of its $8,000 goal, with many kind samaritans offering support in all forms to the new mum.

Abigail’s biological dad is no longer in the picture, but Ms Fisher says now that Abigail is a part of her life, she couldn’t imagine it any other way. She said that, while unusual, the abandonment of Abigail’s adoptive parents ended up being a good thing.

“I took it as a sign that she was supposed to be mine,” she said. “And now, she is my heart” She said. “Without her I would cease to exist.”

It’s a connection that is clear to see in a gorgeous photographic session that Ms Fisher undertook with her new daughter, showing clearly the love she bears for her little girl.