21 Years Later, Firemen Reunite With Baby Saved From Infanticide

Firefighters recently reunited with “Baby Hope,” an infant they rescued through the station’s safe haven program 21 years ago, Pregnancy Help News recently reported.

The article stated that on Father’s Day in 2003, the firefighters met the baby girl at their station in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The baby’s birth mother knew that the station was a “safe haven,” a place where parents can legally and anonymously surrender infants they are unable to raise.

The mother told the firefighters, “Please take care of my baby.” Those at the station called the baby “Hope” in honor of Father’s Day.

Jim Burge, one of the firefighters, told Pregnancy Help News about the day’s events.

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“I had a three-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old daughter,” he said. “My family was on their way to the station to visit me. That’s where we met Gloria’s birth mother who handed us her daughter and we were kind of shocked. But we knew what was going on.”

He also said that because of Florida’s laws regarding the privacy of safe haven babies, they knew they couldn’t ask any questions even though “you had 50 questions on your mind to ask.”

Firefighter Chris Florea added that they spent four to six hours with Baby Hope.

“It was just awesome, and, in that time, we had a connection with her,” he said.

Florea also commended the bravery of the birth mother.

“I’ve seen a lot of bad things, especially when it comes to newborn babies throughout my career,” he said. “For that woman to show the kind of responsibility she did and do the right thing under that much stress, that’s special.”

Baby Hope, whose adoptive family named her Gloria Hope Lewis, is now a thriving 21-year-old studying criminal justice and social work. She reunited with her rescuers for the first time in October 2024, at the A Safe Haven for Newborns’ annual gala.

Lewis sang the national anthem at the gala, and Burge said she was “a big deal for the program.”

“The hug she gave us, I’ll never forget it,” Florea added. “We’ve been waiting for a really long time to meet her, and it was really cool.”

Lewis received gifts from the firefighters, including a firefighter helmet with the number 66 on it, since they received her at Deerfield Station 66.

“We talked a lot after the ceremony was over and we talked the next morning over breakfast. I liked spending time with them, getting to know them. It gave me a sense of closure,” Lewis said. “These are people that met my birthmother. These are the people I was handed to, so it gave me a sense of closure.”

LifeNews Note: Grace Porto writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.

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