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Alabama has celebrated the opening of three new Safe Haven Baby Boxes this week, located in Muscle Shoals, Athens and Enterprise.
These Baby Boxes provide a location for parents to drop off a newborn anonymously and without fear of prosecution. At the beginning of this year, Alabama installed its first Safe Haven Baby Box in Madison. Since then, the state has welcomed 11 more.
Alabama amended the safe haven law in 2023, that previously only allowed parents to surrender infants up to three days old at hospitals or fire stations, face to face, before facing abandonment charges. The new legislation expanded this provision, allowing parents to surrender infants up to 45 days old and providing a more private option like boxes.
These boxes are located on the exterior walls of fire stations or hospitals and are staffed by emergency personnel around the clock.
When a Safe Haven Baby Box is opened, it triggers an alarm to alert emergency workers inside the fire station. A second alarm goes off when an infant is placed in the box and then a third alarm when the box is closed. The door will automatically lock to prevent reopening from the outside.
Emergency personnel then transport the infant to a hospital for evaluation and notify the Alabama Department of Human Resources, which will take custody of the child. DHR will also contact law enforcement to check if the child has been reported as missing. The child will then be placed in foster care.
The initial cost of a Baby Box is $20,000. This price covers leasing the box from Safe Haven Baby Boxes, which holds the patent and contracts with a manufacturer, along with expenses for installation, electrical and alarm system connections and staff training on its use. There is a $500 annual service fee paid to Safe Haven Baby Boxes to ensure the box remains serviced and functioning.
Funding for Safe Haven Baby Boxes usually comes from private donations and nonprofit organizations, although cities may be responsible for keeping up with future maintenance and associated fees.
Critics think that Baby Boxes might be a superficial solution that allows communities to ignore the underlying issues that may lead mothers to consider abandoning their babies, such as domestic violence, homelessness and challenges in accessing mental and physical healthcare. Despite this criticism, safe haven laws and Baby Boxes have received widespread bipartisan support.
