An infant girl who was left last year at a Whittier fire station as part of the Safe Surrender program will be reunited today with the firefighters who first cared for her.
On June 19, 2005, the infant's mother went to Fire Station 15 and dropped her off under the Safe Surrender program, which allows a parent to surrender a baby within 72 hours of birth to any hospital or fire station in the county -- no questions asked.
The girl was adopted by Rob and Donna Leavitt of Thousand Oaks and named Tessa Gabrielle Leavitt.
"We had no idea. When we found that out, we wanted to bring Tessa down to meet the crew and thank them for taking such good care of her," said Rob Leavitt. "This is going to be a very important day for us."
Supervisor Don Knabe helped establish the county's Safe Surrender program in 2002.
"This is the happy ending that we all want to see," Knabe said. "Little Tessa has been given the chance to have a great life with a loving adoptive family, and we will continue to work until no child is ever abandoned in Los Angeles County again."
Since the program began, 44 infants have been surrendered in Los Angeles County.
For more information on the program, call (877) 222-9723 or the county's 24-hour hotline at 211.
