Many Willing To Adopt Abandoned Newborn Woman Who Rescued Baby From Toilet At Disney World Would Also ‘Take Her In A Heartbeat’

A woman who helped rescue an abandoned newborn from a toilet at Walt Disney World said Tuesday she is interested in adopting the girl.

“She needs a loving home and we could do that, but I’m sure there are thousands of people that could do that,” Kathleen McManus, an attorney, said by telephone from her office in the Milwaukee area.

McManus and Linda Keller, of Hansville, Wash., found the baby last weekend.

Investigators have been unable to find the mother of the 7-pound, 21-inch infant, who was nicknamed by hospital nurses “Princess Jasmine” from the movie “Aladdin.”

She remained hospitalized in stable condition Tuesday and was expected to be turned over to foster parents Wednesday. The hospital and a child welfare agency have fielded hundreds of calls from people interested in adopting her.

“The fact that I found her doesn’t give me any legal standing. I told the sheriff that if there are any problems we would take her in a heartbeat,” McManus said.

McManus was in Orlando last weekend with her husband and three children attending a conference on the risk of labor and delivery in malpractice cases. She was in the front of the bathroom when she heard Keller call out that there was a baby in the stall.

McManus lifted the baby out of the toilet and Keller ran out and called for a doctor.

Dr. Kenneth Goodman, a family practitioner from Cleveland, heard the calls, tied off the baby’s umbilical cord with a shoelace and cleared her throat.

The baby’s three rescuers said that whatever happens to her, they want to keep track of her progress. Goodman said five of his patients have expressed an interest in adopting the baby.

“My hope is once the baby has a home, I want to call them up and see the baby in nice warm arms instead of cold and blue like I saw her,” he said.