LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A baby girl whose mother gave her up to firefighters under the Safe Surrender law is now 12-years-old and calls the firefighter who accepted her from her mom her “hero.”
NBC Los Angeles reported that Capt. Jay Davenport answered the call in Sept. 2001 months after the Safe Surrender law took effect. The mother arrived with a healthy, newborn baby girl — one of the first ever surrendered at their fire house under the protection of the law, according to the report.
“They were struggling with three kids, and they didn’t feel like they were going to take care of them,” Davenport said of the family who left the baby.
The baby, now 12-year-old named Mady, was just 4-years-old when her adoptive mother decided to track down the firefighter who was there for her daughter, according to the report.
“He’s my hero, and he’s the person who was there for me when nobody else was,” Mady said of Davenport. “I want to prevent people from throwing away babies. Let them have a real life instead of just dying…They can become a really good person.”
Firefighter Davenport said of the few things he knew about Mady’s birth mother.
“She wanted to give her a chance for a better life,” he said. “And I think the birth mother’s wishes have come true.”
Since 2001, more than 260 babies have been safely surrendered in California, according to the report.