As much of a joy and dream come true motherhood is for many women, it can also be daunting and fraught with hardship. That is true of many adult women, but it rings even truer for teen moms, who are just barely out of childhood themselves.

One young mother had to make a tough choice.

Earlier in May, a 14-year-old girl gave birth. Although not much is known of her identity or circumstances, it’s pretty clear that she felt in over her head with the prospect of motherhood. And that makes sense, she herself is still very young and parenthood is a huge responsibility that people should only take on if they feel absolutely sure about it. So, it’s sad but understandable that she made a choice that may seem cruel to some people.

She walked into a Mexican restaurant in order to leave her baby with a kind stranger.

Thankfully, this kind stranger was Alease Scott, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

According to Scott, the teenager walked into the restaurant, handed her the baby, and left pretty quickly. The teenaged mother reportedly looked desperate and distressed.

It’s good that Scott was there because she happens to be a mother of three herself, as well as CPR and First Aid trained. So, she knew exactly what to do when she realized the baby still had part of the umbilical cord attached and appeared to have difficulty breathing.

At that point, Alease Scott used her training to save the baby’s life.

Scott called the police, who brought the proper gear to the restaurant in order to help the baby breathe properly.

She applied the oxygen mask herself. She says:

“Once I applied the oxygen mask to the baby, all of a sudden we heard the most beautiful cry and the baby started moving. She slightly opened up her eyes, and then she closed her eyes, but the sweetest thing was when she got hungry, and she was trying to suckle on the oxygen mask. So we knew she was okay after that.”

It might seem easy to judge this young girl for her decision, but remember, we have no idea what her circumstances were like.

There are many factors that could have influenced this girl’s decision.

The material factors, such as her young age or the possibility that she may not have been able to financially support the baby, would be enough to make this sad, but understandable. But there are mental health factors, such as postpartum depression or extreme anxiety, that made her unable to either care for her baby or take a traditional route of giving the baby up for adoption. Perhaps she did not feel safe in her home and her pregnancy was a secret. This is a sad story, and it must have been very hard for this 14-year-old to go through this.

What’s important now is that both the young girl and the baby are healthy and safe.

Fortunately, both she and the baby are healthy now and on the road to a better life.

Once the police arrived, they took the baby to the hospital to be monitored and taken care of.

The baby will be put up for adoption and will find a loving home that is able to meet her needs.

The baby’s mother was also located by police quickly after she left the restaurant. She is reportedly healthy and will not be facing charges due to Safe Haven laws. These laws allow parents to bring their babies to a safe place and rescind their parental rights without facing criminal charges.

In interviews, the good Samaritans who helped mother and baby responded to this incident with empathy.

Scott, who also says she and her boyfriend would love to be baby’s godparents, says she is glad she was there to help this scared young woman out:

“I’m just so happy I was there to help because she just was desperate and didn’t know what to do, she was so young.”

Aguilar hopes this experience will lead people to be more proactive in helping others and being kind:

“Hopefully we as a society become better at just helping one another.”

If you are a parent struggling with the difficulties of childbirth or childcare, there are support services available to you. You can consult your doctor or call your local 2-1-1 number in order to learn more about the various support systems available to you.

Watch the video below to learn more about this moment.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: CBS New York, ABC7 NY, Child Welfare, Women’s Health, 211