Six months after the first baby was dropped off inside Florida’s only Safe Haven Baby Box, that newborn girl now has a loving family.
Baby Zoey was surrendered to Ocala Fire Rescue on January 5. When the firefighter, now her adoptive father, opened the box he saw a newborn with a shoelace tying off her umbilical cord.
The baby was rushed to the hospital, and according to WKMG, the firefighter contacted his wife to let her know about his discovery.
The couple had been trying to start a family for 10 years and felt like it was finally their time. Although they remained cautiously optimistic.
“It wasn’t real until I got the call I could go in there with her in the NICU,” the adoptive mother said. “We’ve been trying for almost a decade to have a family, and everything has kind of not worked out for us. So we are like, ‘Don’t get our hopes up, don’t get our hopes up.’”
Two days later baby Zoey was able to go home from the hospital, and in April the couple formally adopted her via a court proceeding over Zoom.
“I think it’s very respectable, what she did,” Zoey’s adoptive mother said of her birth mother. “We really felt in our hearts that we wanted to let the birth mom know in some way, shape or form that she is safe, she is happy, and she is very loved.”
Wonderful news!
To the mother who surrendered her baby girl, thank you for giving her a chance at life. And to the couple who adopted baby Zoey, thank you for giving her a loving home.
READ MORE:
- First newborn surrendered to Florida’s only Safe Haven Baby Box: ‘Thank you for keeping your child safe’
- Police officer adopts baby found in Safe Haven Baby Box after she was hospitalized with stroke
