The first baby surrendered to a Safe Haven Baby Box in Florida has been adopted by the firefighter and his wife six months after they found the infant.
The rescuer who discovered baby Zoey in the compartment on January 5 in Ocala, Florida, and his wife successfully adopted her after ten years of trying to start a family.
'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,"' Zoey's adoptive mom said.
According to WKMG, Zoey was adopted in April by the man and his wife - who asked the station to remain anonymous for privacy concerns - over a Zoom proceeding.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes' Founder and CEO, Monica Kelsey, told the outlet the adoption is a best-case scenario and exactly what her boxes are meant to do. The boxes are installed on government buildings and allow parents to safely and anonymously leave a newborn through 'safe haven' laws.
'We've had 10 [babies] this year in 2023, this is a record year for us,' Kelsey said. 'But it's working. And this little girl is proof that these boxes are needed in Florida.'
Zoey's adoptive mother says she is grateful to her daughter's biological mom for her decision to use the Safe Haven Baby Box. Safe Haven laws allow parents to give up a newborn without fear of prosecution.
'I think it's very respectable, what she did,' Zoey's adoptive mother said.
'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,' she continued.
Her husband was stationed at Ocala Fire Rescue Station 1 when the alarm for the climate-controlled box began ringing.
Upon opening the chamber's door, he discovered Zoey inside with a shoelace tying off her umbilical cord.
He rushed her to the hospital and immediately began talking with his wife and started the adoption process.
They stayed with Zoey until they got the go-ahead to formally begin adding her to their family, waiting patiently at the hospital.
'It wasn't real until I got the call I could go in there with her in the NICU,' the adoptive mother told WKMG.
To the couple who had been attempting to grow their family for a decade, the little girl was a blessing beyond belief, they said.
'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 said.
The box in Ocala is one of 134 Safe Haven boxes in the US that have been used more than two dozen times since being launched in 2017.
In an interview with NPR earlier this year, Kelsey said she knew someone in Florida would want to use the box, which provides a safe opportunity to hand over a child.
'When we launched this box in Florida, I knew it wasn't going to be an if - it was going to be a matter of when,' Kelsey told NPR. 'This does not come as a surprise.'
Talking with WKMG, she said she is glad to see the boxes making an impact.
'You know I never really looked at myself as someone who was going to change other people's lives, I just wanted to put a few boxes here in Indiana and save the two babies a year that we were finding deceased,' Kelsey said.
She added she is working on installing a second box in near Gainesville.
Kelsey found inspiration to start the organization came after she saw a box in South Africa, according to her website.
'The process, the procedure worked,' said Ocala Fire Chief Clint Welborn.
The Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn also spoke during a press conference in January to encourage other cities to integrate the boxes into their hospitals or fire stations.
'I'd recommend to mayors and city council people across the state of Florida to do it on your own, just like we did,' he said.