“She Will Never Be Alone Again”: Dolly Parton Steps In After Newborn Is Found Abandoned in Nashville
In the quiet hours just before dawn, a nurse at St. Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville made a heartbreaking discovery: a newborn baby, wrapped in nothing but a thin blanket, left near the emergency entrance. No note. No name. No sign of who had brought her there.
But while the child came into the world surrounded by silence, her cry would be heard by someone who’s spent her entire life turning sorrow into song.
Just hours after local news reported on the story, country music icon and humanitarian Dolly Parton reportedly reached out privately to hospital officials — not with condolences, but with a promise.
A promise to step in.
A promise to protect.
A promise to love.
“If I Can Give Her a Future, I Will”
According to hospital staff who spoke under anonymity, Parton’s team made immediate contact after learning of the situation. Within hours, Dolly herself arrived at the hospital, reportedly holding a hand-stitched baby blanket embroidered with the word: Hope.
“She didn’t come with a press team. She didn’t come with fanfare,” said one nurse. “She came as a mother. She held that baby and cried.”
Parton is said to have offered to assume emergency guardianship of the child, pledging to cover all of her medical, educational, and living expenses until she turns 18 — and, if permitted, to raise her under the umbrella of the Dollywood Foundation’s family outreach program.
“No child deserves to feel unwanted on their first day of life,” she reportedly told hospital staff. “If I can be her family, I will.”
A Temporary Name, A Permanent Promise
While the Department of Child Services has not confirmed long-term placement, they acknowledged that emergency guardianship from qualified individuals is legally viable in the state of Tennessee. For now, the child has been nicknamed by staff as “Jolene Hope” — a nod to one of Parton’s most beloved songs, and the word stitched across her new blanket.
Online, the story has sparked a wave of reaction:
“She went from abandoned to adopted by an angel in under 12 hours,” one user wrote.
“The child may not know it now, but the woman who picked her up is more than a star—she’s a savior,” posted another.
More Than a Story — A Symbol of Compassion
Dolly Parton has long been known for her philanthropic work: funding millions of books for children through her Imagination Library, donating to children’s hospitals, and even helping finance a COVID-19 vaccine in 2020. But this gesture, if fully realized, marks something deeply personal.
Child advocate Lisa Moreno put it best:
“This isn’t a donation. This is devotion.”
