‘He is safe, he is happy, he is loved’

Foster parents finally get to adopt boy left at fire station in 2022.

The day Chris and Brittany Tyler heard the news that a newborn baby was surrendered at a Louisville Fire Department station, they sat by their phones hoping they’d get the call to pick him up.

It was May 2022, and the Tylers — who struggled with fertility for years — already were experienced foster parents.

“There are so many kids that need a home,” said Brittany Tyler, noting that over the past seven years, she and her husband have fostered 17 children for varying lengths of time.

At the time, the Tylers already had adopted two children, and they wanted the baby boy from the firehouse — doctors estimated he was 2 days old when he was dropped off — to go to a loving home. They hoped it might be theirs.

“I had assumed since it had been a few days, that they had already found a place for him to go,” Brittany Tyler said.

But four days after the baby was found and taken to a hospital, they received a call asking if they’d be willing to foster him. They happily accepted.

They also learned that the infant’s mother left him with a handwritten note that said: “I love you.”

“She didn’t have to leave a note at all,” said Chris Tyler, 43. “Just that act by itself showed how much she cared about him.”

The boy was just over 3 pounds, and he had to remain in a neonatal intensive care unit for several weeks before moving in with the Tylers.

“He was so small and had a feeding tube,” said Brittany Tyler, 37.

Before long, though, the baby was thriving and enjoying life at his new home. The Tylers named him Samuel, and he officially became their son Dec. 18, 2023.

“I can’t even really put words behind how exciting it was,” Chris Tyler said.

Samuel, who turns 2 in May, has developed a tight bond with his older brothers: Judah, 8, and Calvin, 5.

“They are good big brothers to him,” Chris Tyler said. “They love him, and they enjoy doting on him.”

“When we first brought him home, they were so excited,” echoed his wife. “It’s really special to bring a new baby home. They were like, ‘Can we keep this one?’”

That always was the Tylers’ goal. When a baby is surrendered to a designated safe place in Kentucky — such as a hospital, fire station, place of worship or police station — the process for terminating parental rights begins after 30 days.

Once that period had passed for Samuel, “we knew he wasn’t going anywhere,” Brittany Tyler said.

In December 2022, Samuel’s birth mother’s parental rights were terminated, paving the path for the Tylers to adopt him. Adoptions take time, the Tylers said, as there is ample paperwork to process, and the couple also had to renew some of their certifications and schedule a court date.

Having Samuel as their son, they said, was worth the wait.

Although Sam was tiny as a baby, he now is in the 80th percentile for size. He is in good health, his parents said, aside from some muscle tightness in his legs, for which he does physical therapy.

Sam’s personality also has blossomed.

“He is hilarious,” Brittany Tyler said. “He loves to play with the big kids. Anything they’re doing, he wants to do it, too.”

Sam soon will have another sibling, the Tylers said, as they are in the process of adopting a medically fragile girl they have been fostering for almost a year. She is eight months younger than Sam.

“She needed to be removed from the care that she was in, and unfortunately there just wasn’t any family that was able to take a child who was medically complex and needs to see a lot of doctors,” said Chris Tyler, explaining that they currently can’t share any more details about the child, including her name.

The Tylers have had training to look after medically complex children, which is what qualified them to care for Sam when he was considered medically fragile as an infant.

Before fostering Sam, “we didn’t know a whole lot about safe haven babies,” Chris Tyler said.

While Sam wasn’t left in a Safe Haven Baby Box — a dropoff location that keeps surrendered newborns safe — the Tylers hope that sharing his story will help raise awareness about them, as well as designated safe places.

“A lot of people don’t even know that it’s an option,” Brittany Tyler said. “We feel it’s important to get awareness out there.

“If we can help even one person, then we’re going to continue to share our story.”

The couple also hope their message reaches Sam’s birth mom. They kept her note, and Brittany Tyler made the baby blanket Sam was found in into a teddy bear that he sleeps with every night.

“While we may never know her, we understand where her heart was. She loved him, and for that reason, we have love for her as well,” Chris Tyler said.

His wife concurs, saying, “We hope that she knows he is safe, he is happy and he is loved.”

Samuel Tyler celebrated his first birthday last May at the same Louisville, Kentucky, fire station where he was surrendered.

PHOTOS BY HEATHER SHAY PHOTOGRAPHY LLC Samuel Tyler was surrendered in May 2022 with a note that said “I love you.” His adoption became official in December. He has two brothers and soon will have a sister.