Church members offer to adopt newborn baby boy who was abandoned by his mother in a nativity scene manger 

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Several parishioners at a church in Queens, New York, have offered to adopt a newbon baby boy who was abandoned by his mother in the manger of a nativity scene.

The child, nicknamed 'Baby Jesus,' was discovered wrapped in towels and with the umbilical cord still attached in the indoor nativity scene at the Holy Child Jesus Church in the Richmond Hill section of Queens on Monday.

By Wednesday, police have tracked down the boy's mother and interviewed her, but decided not to charge her with any crime because she gave up the baby in accordance with the state's Safe Heaven law.

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Home for Christmas? Church members in Queens have offered to adopt this newborn dubbed 'Baby Jesus' who was found abandoned ion a manger

When the healthy baby boy was found crying in a creche, its umbilical chord was still attached   

The law allows a parent to drop off a newborn anonymously at a church, hospital, police or fire station, as long as the baby is handed over to an appropriate person.

Father Christopher Ryan Heanue, one of the priests at the Queens church, said some parishioners have already expressed interest in the little boy’s future.

‘A young couple in our parish would love to adopt this child and keep this gift in our community. It would make a great Christmas miracle,’ Heanue said.

The infant, weighing 5lbs, 6oz, was taken to a hospital for evaluation and given a clean bill of health. 

In surveillance footage released on Wednesday, the boy's mother is seen entering a 99 center store just blocks from the Holy Child Jesus Church, her head covered in a blue hooded coat and she holds what appears to be the baby wrapped in another coat.

The woman calmly finds and then buys what looks like the same set of blue towels that the baby was found wrapped in Monday afternoon.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown later said that following a full review of the facts surrounding the discovery of the newborn, his office has decided not to prosecute the mother.  

The woman wanted for dropping a newborn baby off at a Queens, New York church is seen shopping minutes before the act at a nearby 99 cent store 

The unidentified woman buys towels - what appears to be the same set that the baby was found in on Monday 

After leaving the store, the woman dropped of the baby in the manger of the nearby church and left without being noticed. 

The baby was discovered about an hour later by a church custodian who heard the infant crying. 

'The baby was found in the creche, a sort of manger scene where we would put the baby Jesus during Christmastime,' Reverend Heanue told the New York Post on Tuesday. 

'It appears that the mother, in this case, felt her newborn child would be found safely in the church and chose to place the baby in the manger because it was the warmest place in the church, and further she returned the following morning to make certain that the baby had been found,' said Brown. 

'The baby was brand new,' Heanue said. 'He still had the umbilical cord attached. It's a beautiful baby boy.' 

On Facebook, he wrote asking for prayers for the newborn.

'Let us pray for this child, for his parents and for whomever will receive him into their home,' he wrote.

The baby was transported to Jamaica Hospital where he is listed in good condition. 

The custodian who found the baby told authorities that the manger was empty when he had left for lunch, however when he returned about an hour later, he heard an infant crying

The Nativity Scene where the child was left. CCTV captured a woman entering the church with the infant

Reverend Christopher Heanue said there are families within the parish (pictured) who have shown interest in wanting to adopt the baby