OCALA, Fla. — Six months ago, a newborn baby girl made history by being the first to be surrendered to Florida's first Safe Haven Baby Box – now baby Zoey has been adopted by her rescuer.
Orlando's CBS affiliate WKMG-TV reported that Zoey is happy and healthy with her new adoptive family. Zoey's rescuer and his wife had been trying to start a family for a decade before she appeared.
Zoey was surrendered to Ocala Fire Rescue on Jan. 5. When a firefighter opened the Safe Haven box, he saw a little girl inside with a shoelace tying off her umbilical cord.
WKMG reported after rushing the baby to the hospital, the firefighter immediately called his wife to start the adoption process.
"Everyone was just in disbelief honestly that she was hand-delivered to us almost and that everything had kind of worked itself out to where we could bring her home two days later," Zoey's new mom told the news outlet.
The new family asked for their identity to not be released for privacy concerns. However, the new mom told WKMG, "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."
Zoey was officially adopted in April via a court proceeding over Zoom.
The agency became the first fire department in the state of Florida to unveil a Safe Haven Baby Box in December 2020, fire officials said in a Facebook post. The box is still the only operational device of its kind in the entire state. The box allows a mother in crisis to safely, securely and anonymously surrender a newborn who cannot be cared for.
The box has elements used for the comfort of the babies, such as heating, cooling and a silent alarm to notify first responders if medical attention is needed, Orlando's WESH said.
There are 134 Baby Box locations across the nation, and the Ocala Baby Box was the 66th one to open.
More information on Safe Haven Baby Boxes can be found here. You can also call the National Safe Haven Crisis Line at 1-866-992-2291.