'I prayed for him' | Family adopts infant surrendered as newborn at Louisville fire station | Local News

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- After more than 500 days in foster care, a toddler who was surrendered at a Louisville fire station as a newborn has been adopted.

In May 2022, a woman surrendered the infant, handing him to firefighters at a fire station on River Park Drive in west Louisville. To read the original story, click here.

"We were with Samuel from the very beginning. It was early morning, close to shift change, when his mother rang the doorbell here," said Lt. Col. Bobby Cooper, assistant chief with Louisville Fire.

While two Louisville Fire stations have Safe Haven Baby Boxes, a climate-controlled environment with a silent alarm system that notifies first responders when an infant has been dropped off — this location does not. Therefore, Samuel needed to be handed directly to firefighters in order to be legally surrendered.

"Samuel in the arms of our firefighters, seeing the need, like the reality of it, has encouraged us — I guess is the best way to say it — to put in more Baby Boxes and has prompted the community to work with us to install more Baby Boxes," said Cooper.

He said Louisville Fire has plans to install two Baby Boxes in 2024. According to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes website, there are other fire departments in the area with Baby Boxes including in Okolona and Pleasure Ridge Park.

Shortly after Samuel's surrender, Brittany and Chris Tyler, of Louisville, heard about it through a news article.

"... that night I prayed that we would get the call because I knew he would go to a foster family," said Brittany Tyler.

Infant surrendered at Louisville fire station in 2022 has adoption finalized — Brittany and Chris Tyler smile with their son, Samuel, during his adoption day. Photo provided by Tyler family.

Brittany and Chris Tyler are no strangers to the foster system. They said over time, they have had a total of 17 foster children. They've now adopted three children, including Samuel, who's been with the family since he was just days old.

"We had been trying to have a baby for a while and it wasn't working out and we looked into adoption through an agency and it was very pricy so we looked into fostering because we wanted to be able to help and have babies in our home," explained Brittany.

She said as soon as she got a call, asking if the family would foster the infant surrendered at the fire station, she knew she wanted to name him Samuel.

"I hung up and I said, 'his name is Samuel. It can't be anything else,' she said. "Because I prayed for him."

"In the book of 1 Samuel, Hannah prays to God that she would be able to have a son and He granted what she had asked to have and so she named him Samuel. So, that's why we named him Samuel," added Chris Tyler.

They said Samuel was in a shoebox when he was taken to firefighters. It's a piece of his past they're holding onto for Samuel to keep.

"... just included a little note with it saying that she loved him and handed him over to the firemen," said Chris Tyler.

"It's hard to imagine he fit in this box. He's so big now," said Brittany Tyler.

Samuel is still a few months away from his second birthday, but he has a big personality already.

"He is hilarious. He's always happy, laughing, running around," said Brittany Tyler.

He's also a big fan of snack time, Mickey Mouse, and playing with his toy fire truck.

"Through the Safe Haven Baby Boxes we've been able to meet other families that have done this as well and see some of the other children that have been adopted this way and there's just beautiful families being made through this," said Chris Tyler.

The fire station where he was surrendered has remained part of Samuel's life. He's already been back to celebrate his first birthday.

"With this it's kind of unique, it's not a structure fire, it's not a car wreck, it's not a gun shot, it's not something that we see often but our firefighters are completely prepared for it," said Cooper. "And there aren't many things more vulnerable than a brand newborn baby, which Samuel was at that time and we're incredibly proud of our members for the work that they did to get him to where he is today."

Cooper said the role of the fire department is to help, not judge, in any situation.

"We don't ask people why they were in the car wreck when we're on an emergency incident. We don't ask people why their house caught on fire when we're fighting that fire. We don't ask somebody why they may be in any medical emergency. When people don't know what else to do, they call the fire department," he said. "So clearly, a mother in a crisis situation isn't sure what to do and we're another option for her. Where she can come to a fire station, whether it's here in Louisville or any other states that have the Safe Haven baby laws, she can come to a fire station and she can surrender that baby."

Although Samuel's mother is someone the Tyler family will likely never know or meet, they said they love her.

"We love her and cherish her and thank God for her for what she did for Sam," they said.

Thirty-seven infants have been placed in a baby box since 2017, and over 130 surrenders have happened through calls to the National Safe Haven Baby Box Hotline, 1-866-99BABY1, which is available all day every day. The hotline provides counseling services to parents who may be unable or unwilling to care for their newborn.

For a link to crisis line for Safe Haven Baby Boxes, click here.

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