LARGO, Fla. — One Largo family got the Christmas gift of a lifetime. Philip and Laci Neary welcomed home a newly adopted baby just in time for the holidays.
The couple waited on the adoption list for over two years after finding out they would not be able to have biological kids.
Now Philip and Laci are calling Sarah Beth their Christmas miracle.
“We are just so excited to have her here, and we do feel like she is the biggest Christmas gift we could’ve ever gotten,” Laci said.
Philip said his life will never be the same.
“I am so blessed beyond words. It is a Christmas miracle, it really is,” he said.
After years of false hope and waiting, the couple got a phone call that changed their lives.
“They told us they had a baby girl who was safe haven in the hospital,” Laci said.
The Florida Safe Haven Law allows parents to leave an otherwise healthy baby who is not in need of medical care at a safe place. A police station, fire station, and hospital are all considered safe places.
In Florida, the baby has to be under seven days old.
The parent can drop the child off and be completely anonymous. This aims at preventing the dangerous abandonment of newborns.
The executive director at Heart of Adoptions explained how the holiday season factors into their work.
“We tend to see more around the holidays, especially because it’s cold, but that’s normal for us,” Meredith Shephard said.
She explained her agency has not seen any changes since the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
