Fire chief answers knock at station’s door – woman says ‘I need to give you my baby’
When Fire Chief Darryl Milliot heard a knock at Santa Ana’s Station 75 door, the last thing he expected to see was a distressed woman carrying a newborn child.
“The first words out of her mouth were, ‘I need to give you my baby,” Milliot recalled.
The anonymous woman, who appeared to be in her 20s, handed Chief Milliot her 15-hour-old daughter before walking away.
Chief Milliot and the on-staff firefighters were in complete shock. “We did our best to compose ourselves, maintain professionalism, and do what we needed to do,” Michael de Leon, an Orange County Fire Authority Engineer, explained.
The anonymous mother who had appeared at the fire station had been taking advantage of California’s Safe Surrender Law. This law allows parents to anonymously leave a child under 72 hours old with an on-duty staff member at a designated drop-off site, such as a hospital or fire station. By safely leaving a child in this manner, the parent cannot be charged with failure to provide and/or neglect.
Indeed, de Leon admits his first thoughts upon seeing the mother were, “How can you surrender your baby?” However, he soon conceded:
“When you really think about [safe surrender], it’s really heroic and brave to do it.”
The on-duty firefighters spent the entire night caring for the baby until social services arrived. She was later named Naomi.
Coincidentally, right around the time Naomi was surrendered, local foster parents Krysten and Kurt Snyder had been trying to adopt a child. Krysten, a kids’ music leader at Compass Bible Church, called the experience “crazy.”
“[The social worker] said there was a little girl that was a Safe Surrender, and that we needed to pick her up from the hospital in a couple of hours.”
“It’s so crazy. One moment we say, ‘Yes, we are taking the baby,’ and the next moment we are packing the car up, making the list for Target of all the things we need to get.”
Chief Milliot and the firefighters formed a bond with Naomi during the experience and later attended her adoption ceremony.
“I tell everybody that asks me about it that [going to the ceremony] is one of the highlights of my career by far,” De Leon told CBS News Los Angeles. “Because when it happens [safe surrender], you don’t know what’s going to happen to the baby, really.”
The firefighters who cared for Naomi when she was only 15-hours-old are now considered her “unofficial uncles.” Kurt Snyder, Naomi’s adoptive father, has stated that he’d love for the firefighters to continue to be in Naomi’s life and to attend future birthday parties and celebrations.
While the story is beautiful, some people believe it’s much more than that.
Mike Schrader, Krysten’s brother-in-law, told the OC Register: “If you believe in God, you understand it’s not coincidental; it’s providential.”
“It’s an awesome story and God’s hand was on it the whole time.”
CBS News Los Angeles posted a video covering Naomi’s story five years ago, but it’s still getting views and comments today. A few months ago, one commenter noted:
“As someone who was raised in severe poverty, this birth mother was super courageous and may have saved her life in many ways.”
Learn more about their heartwarming story in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.