Prattville fire station No. 4 has installed a Safe Haven Baby Box. It’s a protective compartment where a parent can anonymously surrender a new born infant with no questions asked. This addition is the second box to be functioning in Alabama.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes are an extension of the already existing safe haven law where parents can safely surrender an unharmed infant at fire stations. The boxes have been put in place to reduce the amount of new born babies who are abandoned at dangerous or unsuitable locations.
With the Safe Haven Baby Boxes, parents can place a baby inside the compartment located on the exterior wall of the building. Once the baby is placed inside and the door is shut, the door locks from the outside and emergency staff is notified. The baby remains safe inside of the temperature controlled box until staff opens the door that is located inside of the building to retrieve the baby.
“When a woman walks up to one of the Safe Haven Baby Boxes, all she has to do is open the door place her unharmed newborn inside shut the door and literally walk away,” said Monica Kelsey, the founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
Kelsey believes that the discreetness of the box encourages more parents to choose to safely surrender their babies rather than abandoning them.
“The beauty of the baby box is no one knows who's using them. No one knows where they're from,” Kelsey said. “The anonymity is key when you're talking about a Safe Haven Baby Box, because when a woman walks into a hospital, in the state of Alabama, it's confidential, but it's not anonymous. Anonymity means that they don't go eye to eye with anyone. The person doesn't know their skin color doesn't know whether they're male or female.”
To ensure that the boxes are safe to place a baby inside, they are tested weekly by the fire department. The Safe Haven Baby Box also sends personnel out to ensure the box is working properly once a year.
Within each baby box, parents can find an orange bag that contains resources for medical care and pamphlets about the safe haven laws. Videos explaining what’s inside the orange bag are the organization’s most asked question on their popular TikTok account.
Kelsey and her team measure the success of the Safe Haven Baby Boxes based on the lives saved from parents choosing to safely surrender their new born babies.
“The goal in the mission and the Ministry of Safe Haven Baby Boxes is always to keep these infants in safe locations and not having their lives be taken from them in a dumpster or trash can. That's happening all across this country about every three days in America,” she said.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes is working to prevent illegal abandonment of newborns by raising awareness and through their 24-hour hotline for mothers in crisis. More information about the organization and their boxes can be found on their website.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes are an extension of the already existing safe haven law where parents can safely surrender an unharmed infant at fire stations. The boxes have been put in place to reduce the amount of new born babies who are abandoned at dangerous or unsuitable locations.
With the Safe Haven Baby Boxes, parents can place a baby inside the compartment located on the exterior wall of the building. Once the baby is placed inside and the door is shut, the door locks from the outside and emergency staff is notified. The baby remains safe inside of the temperature controlled box until staff opens the door that is located inside of the building to retrieve the baby.
“When a woman walks up to one of the Safe Haven Baby Boxes, all she has to do is open the door place her unharmed newborn inside shut the door and literally walk away,” said Monica Kelsey, the founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
Kelsey believes that the discreetness of the box encourages more parents to choose to safely surrender their babies rather than abandoning them.
“The beauty of the baby box is no one knows who's using them. No one knows where they're from,” Kelsey said. “The anonymity is key when you're talking about a Safe Haven Baby Box, because when a woman walks into a hospital, in the state of Alabama, it's confidential, but it's not anonymous. Anonymity means that they don't go eye to eye with anyone. The person doesn't know their skin color doesn't know whether they're male or female.”
To ensure that the boxes are safe to place a baby inside, they are tested weekly by the fire department. The Safe Haven Baby Box also sends personnel out to ensure the box is working properly once a year.
Within each baby box, parents can find an orange bag that contains resources for medical care and pamphlets about the safe haven laws. Videos explaining what’s inside the orange bag are the organization’s most asked question on their popular TikTok account.
Kelsey and her team measure the success of the Safe Haven Baby Boxes based on the lives saved from parents choosing to safely surrender their new born babies.
“The goal in the mission and the Ministry of Safe Haven Baby Boxes is always to keep these infants in safe locations and not having their lives be taken from them in a dumpster or trash can. That's happening all across this country about every three days in America,” she said.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes is working to prevent illegal abandonment of newborns by raising awareness and through their 24-hour hotline for mothers in crisis. More information about the organization and their boxes can be found on their website.
