A child welfare official hopes a baby abandoned in a Toronto parking garage in January will be adopted by a mixed raced family in April after police conclude their search for her parents.

Ninety-five families have come forward to offer to adopt the baby, known as Angelica Leslie. She is now eight months old.

A family court judge in Toronto decided on Thursday that police should have more time to search for her biological parents before the girl is declared a ward of the Crown.

The move would make her eligible for adoption. A decision on her status is expected to be made April 23.

David Rivard, executive director of Toronto Children's Aid Society, said the society hopes to place the baby this spring.

Rivard said the society is thrilled that so many people have offered to adopt the baby but it is working on narrowing down a list of names of people who have been trained to be adoptive parents.

"It takes about a year to become an adoptive parent," he said.

Abandoned in parking garage

Rivard said the society plans to place the baby in a mixed race family because of her background.

"We would look specifically at placing her within a biracial family," he said. "The police are still conducting their investigation, so again, hopefully within a month, that can be finalized."

Angelica Leslie was abandoned in an outdoor parking garage of a mall near Leslie Street and Finch Avenue in north Toronto on Jan. 30.

Police have released images that show a person leaving the baby in the stairwell, then driving away in what appears to a green late model Ford Escort.

The baby was discovered by a passerby two hours later, with minor cuts and bruises on her face. Police said she had been physically abused. She was found wearing a pink cotton sleeper.

Child welfare officials named her Angelica Leslie in part because of where she was found.

Rivard said the society has on record about seven cases of abandonment in recent years in Toronto but Angelica Leslie has what he called the "most unknown factors" of her origin.