New Orleans police are asking for the public’s help tracking down the family of a 4-year-old girl found unattended on North Claiborne Avenue in the St. Claude neighborhood. Officers discovered the girl around 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the 3900 block of the street, according to police, and took her to the NOPD Fifth District station while investigators worked to figure out where she came from.
The case was quickly handed over to the department’s Special Victims Division, according to WGNO, which first reported the search for the child’s identity. The 3900 block of North Claiborne Avenue sits within NOPD’s Fifth Police District, which covers St. Claude, Bywater, St. Roch, and the Lower Ninth Ward, according to a bulletin from the City of New Orleans. Investigators are asking anyone with information about the girl to contact the Special Victims Division at 504-658-6019.
How NOPD Handles an Unidentified Child
As reported by WWL-TV, officers brought the girl to the Fifth District station once she was found, and Special Victims Division detectives assumed control of the investigation from there. When guardians can’t immediately be located, state law gives police a specific mechanism for what comes next: under Article 619 of the Louisiana Children’s Code, officers can request an emergency instanter custody order from a judge, placing an unidentified or endangered child in temporary custody with the state Department of Children and Family Services, per FindLaw.
Standard practice also calls for logging the child’s information into the National Crime Information Center database so it can be cross-referenced against active missing-child reports in surrounding parishes and states, per guidelines from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children cited by Hoodline. It’s unknown at this point whether the girl’s identity or her parents have been established, whether DCFS has taken formal custody of her, or whether Special Victims Division investigators suspect any foul play or criminal negligence.
What Louisiana Law Says About Leaving a Child Alone
If a parent or guardian is found to have negligently left the girl unattended, they could face a charge of child desertion under Louisiana Revised Statute 14:93.2.1, which covers the intentional or criminally negligent exposure of a child under 10 to hazards they cannot protect themselves against, punishable by up to a $500 fine and six months in prison, according to the Louisiana State Legislature. A more serious charge, criminal abandonment under Louisiana Revised Statute 14:79.1, applies when a parent or guardian intentionally leaves a child under 10 unattended with no intention of returning, carrying penalties of up to a $1,000 fine and a year in prison.
Louisiana’s Safe Haven law would not shield a parent in this kind of case. The statute only protects parents from prosecution when surrendering infants up to 60 days old at designated emergency facilities, according to the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, and it offers no immunity for leaving an older child like a 4-year-old in a public place.
Recent Cases of Children Found Alone in New Orleans
This isn’t the first time NOPD has turned to the public for help reuniting a young child with family. In June, the department activated an emergency alert for a missing 4-year-old girl who was safely recovered less than an hour later. And in August 2024, the Special Victims Division made a similar public appeal after finding an unidentified toddler, believed to be 12 to 15 months old, on Chef Menteur Highway — successfully identifying the child’s mother within 24 hours, according to NOPD.
Mid-year crime data from 2026 shows New Orleans has seen reductions in overall violent crime, a trend that has allowed district officers to more quickly redirect specialized units like the Special Victims Division toward child welfare emergencies, Hoodline has reported. For now, the girl found on North Claiborne Avenue remains in police care as detectives work to determine who she is and how she came to be alone.
