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A new Safe Haven Baby Box has been placed at the Jasper Fire Station No. 1 on 18th Street East, state Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Reed announced Wednesday.
“Alabama is a place that firmly believes in the sanctity and preciousness of life,” Reed said in a news release. “We have fostered a culture of life with the foundational ideal that all children are gifts from God that deserve love and protection, and I am so thankful this new baby box will provide a safe and compassionate option for parents facing the difficult decision to surrender a child. In Alabama, every life matters, and I want to thank everyone who made this wonderful day a reality for our community and state.”
The installment of the Jasper baby box is the seventh baby box to be installed in the state. Alabama expanded its Safe Haven Act in 2023 to include baby boxes, and of the available baby boxes in the state, the baby box located in Madison has been the only one to be utilized.
There are currently 17 other states with baby boxes with 49 children being surrendered across the country.
The baby boxes were designed to allow desperate parents an alternative to abandoning an infant in an unsafe location. They allow parents to surrender their infants without questions and offer anonymity and safety for the parents.
Once a baby is placed in the baby box, an alarm sounds within the box’s location to alert personnel that a baby has been left. The boxes lock automatically, and a door from inside the area can be opened to retrieve the infant.
After being surrendered, medics on-site will do an initial examination of the infant before transferring them to a local hospital for further treatment. After this process, the Alabama Department of Human Resources will then place the baby under the care of child protective services.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes have a large presence in Indiana, where the founder, Monica Kelsey, resides. In Indiana, there has not been an infant death by illegal abandonment since the first baby box installation in 2016.
