A two-day-old boy was surrendered at a Louisville, Kentucky fire station in a shoebox in May 2022. Wrapped in a pink blanket, his biological mother left him with a handwritten note explaining her inability to care for him. It ended with the words “I love you,” according to Today.com.
Under Kentucky’s Safe Infant Act, parents can anonymously and legally surrender an infant at designated locations without facing questions or prosecution.
Found family
Brittany Tyler was scrolling through her newsfeed when she saw the local news report about the surrender. She and her husband Chris are experienced foster parents who, at the time, had already adopted two boys, Judah and Calvin, through the system. She started praying the newborn would be placed with them.
A few days later, a placement worker called. The couple was selected because of their history fostering medically fragile children.
They met the infant outside the neonatal intensive care unit. He weighed just over three pounds.
“I remember holding him in my arms and knowing right off the bat, ‘This is my boy. This is the next member of our family,’” Chris said.
A happy ending
They named him Samuel. After fostering him for 581 days, Chris and Brittany officially adopted the 20-month-old on December 18, 2023.
Brittany kept the handwritten note from Samuel’s biological mother safe so he can read it when he is older. She took the blanket he was surrendered in and sewed it into a teddy bear. She said she wanted him to always have a piece of his biological mother.
“Everybody lives for Samuel’s hugs,” Brittany said. “He’s such a cuddly kid.”
Bethany Beck via Unsplash.
The family is currently in the process of adopting a little girl.
