It happens every now and then - people find baby wildlife, all alone. With a raccoon, this can happen for a variety of reasons. The mother raccoon may have perished, and the very rugged and determined young may set out on their own. Or perhaps a mother raccoon moved from a den to a new den, and had to make a judgement call to leave one behind - that happens. Or, very likely, the raccoon isn't an orphan at all. Mom is just sleeping somewhere, or off gathering food, and the youngling wandered off. Mom will still find it. Here is what you should do in your situation.
Raccoons are quite solitary animals, but when they are babies and until they complete 1 year old they stick together with their siblings and mother. One litter can go from two to six babies and the gestation lasts about 65 days. If they are younger than one year and the mother is nowhere near to be found they won’t survive without her. But it doesn’t mean you should rush to rescue them.
The search for food
Sometimes the mother has to go and find food for her babies and she can stay away from several hours up to a day but always comes back. She knows where she left them. If not, she could be injured or dead and can’t be able to reunite with her babies.
What to do
If you're sure you have an orphaned raccoon or litter of raccoons, the humane thing to do is to attempt to save them, and bring them to a rehabber. Wear gloves, place the animals in a cardboard box with a warm water bottle or heating pad and blanket or towel. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FEED THEM. They can live a very long time without food, but the wrong food, like cow milk, could possibly kill them.
It's very important that any orphaned baby raccoons be kept warm. A raccoon's normal body temperature is 101-103°F, but babies do tend to run a little cooler than that. Smaller orphaned raccoons often have subnormal body temperatures because they have little hair. Warming them is important, particularly if they are cold. But they must not be warmed too quickly, or to too high a temperature - that could kill them! A warm water bottle or heating pad, set on lower settings, is best.
Baby raccoons will generally spend most of their time in a nest or den with the mother, especially for the first few months after birth, but there are occasions when the mother does go out to forage for food, or the baby manages to find a way out of the den. Baby raccoons are also more active during the day than adult raccoons, and it is possible that a baby raccoon has just ventured a short distance away from their mother sleeping nearby. The problem with an orphaned raccoon is that it does require very specialist care, so for those who do find an abandoned raccoon and would like to help, the best way to do so is to try and ensure that the kit is reunited with its mother. Intervening too quickly to try and help the baby raccoon can often do more harm than good, and can prevent the mother from recovering her baby.