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DCF Investigates Mom Who Abandoned Kids At Ft. Lauderdale Fire Station

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – The Department of Children and Families continues to investigate a strange domestic case where a mother abandoned her two young children at Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue headquarters.

According to police, an upset mother who had just had a fight with her husband dropped off her 1-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy at the fire station located at 528 NW 2nd Street on Tuesday afternoon around 4 p.m.

Police found the father and he was allowed to leave the station with both of his kids who were healthy and uninjured.

"Clearly we are in the early stages of the investigation.  Our main concern is the safety of the kids and they are safe with their father at this point," says DCF spokesman Mark Riordan.

Riordan added that neither the father nor the mother has a history with DCF.  But the mother's parental rights could be affected depending on the outcome of the investigation which will take at least 60 days.

Florida's Safe Haven law only applies to children up to 7-days old who show no signs of abuse. Abandoning a child after day 7 automatically triggers an abandonment child abuse investigation under state law.

"The intention of the law was to save babies from being abandoned and a sure death and that was happening in great numbers in Florida," says Nick Silverio the founder of Safe Haven.

There are no plans to expand the law.

Silverio said, "It's not feasible and we don't want to encourage people to give up their kids when they're having a bad day.  We think if they get the help they need they will keep their child."

Police are not releasing the names of the mother or father to protect the identities of the toddlers.

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