Child protection authorities have spoken with the parents of a baby who was found sitting alone in a car seat on a sidewalk in western Reykjavík early yesterday morning and determined that it had not been neglected but that this had been a single case of a mishap.

The photo is not related to the story. By Páll Stefánsson.

“The child’s health was as good as it could be. There turned out to be a reasonable explanation. It was in fact a series of events which caused this to happen,” Sigrún Hv. Magnúsdóttir, senior social worker of Seltjarnarnes municipality, which is handling the case, told Morgunbladid.

A taxi driver notified the police that he had found a baby alone in a car seat at 5:40 am yesterday morning. Shortly afterwards a couple reported that they had lost their six-month old baby. This turned out to be the same case and the parents came immediately.

The parents were distributing newspapers and had been loading their car with newspapers when they forgot their baby on the curb. The baby girl was warmly dressed and was sleeping when the taxi driver found her. She had not been harmed by being left alone.

“It is just horrible that it happened and if someone is in shock it’s the parents,” Magnúsdóttir described. Child protection authorities concluded that no further intervention is necessary.