Dumped Baby: Police Artist Sketches 'Parents'

Police searching for the parents of a baby abandoned in Texas have released sketches of the couple - based solely on photographs of the child.

The newborn child - nicknamed Chloe by hospital staff - was found wrapped up in a carrier bag by a dog walker in Cypress, northwest of Houston, on February 19.

Texas Child Protective Services have been trying to track down her biological father and mother since then.

Police say the pair could face child endangerment charges.

The sketches were created by a forensic artist, who has previously made composite images of wanted criminals and age-progressed drawings of missing children.

"All I had was Chloe's features, and I made her look like an adult," Lois Gibson explained to KRIV-TV.

"One (sketch) was a male. One was a female."

It could well be the first time such a technique has been tried and it has already attracted some scepticism.

The head of the US Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, Steve Loftin, thinks the police are "really reaching for straws".

"I doubt (the sketches) are going to be accurate at all ... not even in the ballpark of likeness," he told ABC News.

The artist and investigators acknowledge the drawings may be a long shot, but they admit they have very little else to go on.

Meanwhile, Chloe has been released from hospital and is in the care of a local foster family, until her longer term fate is decided by a judge.