Safe Haven Baby Boxes

“No, please … no!” she thought to herself. “This can’t be happening!” she lamented as she held the positive pregnancy test with tears streaming down her face. She was only 16. A little over a month earlier she found herself in a precarious situation that led to a dark evening in a dark alley doing things she didn’t even want to do. And now it was the worst possible result. What was she going to do with a baby?

Her mind raced as she contemplated options. She was terrified of all the unknowns. Should she abort the baby? Should she just get rid of the problem from the start? She made plans to visit the nearest abortion clinic, but when she stepped on site, it was as if her legs couldn’t carry her any further. She knew she had life inside her. Even though she didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t end this baby’s life. So she bravely walked away. She didn’t know what was next. Was she supposed to keep this baby for the rest of her life? “I can’t even take care of myself. How am I going to care for another person?” she thought. Perhaps giving the baby up for adoption was an option, but that felt complicated and overwhelming. This baby needed a home, but she knew she wasn’t the one able to provide that home. Should she ask a friend? But who? She was trying to keep this a secret as much as possible.

As she neared the end of her third trimester, she saw a random post on social media. There were these places that you could leave your baby—no strings attached—she didn’t even have to leave her name. They were called Safe Haven Baby Boxes. They were located at emergency facilities—the baby would be safe. She didn’t have to figure out the adoption process. She didn’t have to be involved in the complex details. She didn’t even need to talk to another soul. She simply had to place her baby in a safe box, and professionals would take care of the rest.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes are electronically monitored, biologically habitable safes, located throughout ten different states. They are attached to hospitals or fire stations. Every three days a baby is abandoned in the United States. That’s a staggering statistic. Most of these abandoned babies have died alone in a dumpster or some other location of discard until Safe Haven Baby Boxes were created.

In 2015, Monica Kelsey, a firefighter and medic, founded Safe Haven Baby Boxes after her return from a speaking tour in Cape Town, South Africa. As God would have it, Monica “happened” to be speaking at the only church, out of hundreds, in Cape Town that possessed a baby safe. When she first saw the box, she didn’t know what it was. Her curiosity set in, and she began asking church members about the random box in the wall. They explained how women would come at night and place their babies in this box which would then trigger a call to the pastor’s cell phone. These babies are then adopted by members of the church. This struck a personal chord for Monica.

In 1972, a young girl, at age 17, was brutally raped and left to die. Her rapist was arrested and charged, but six weeks later she found out she was pregnant. Encouraged by her mother to go to an abortion clinic, the 17-year-old decided in the clinic office she could not go through with the abortion. For the remainder of the pregnancy, the 17-year-old was kept hidden from society. Eight months later, the girl gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and left her at a small hospital in Ohio two hours later. That baby girl was Monica.

Fast-forward decades later, and it was clear God had ordained this moment in the Cape Town church where Monica, a once-abandoned child herself, would be both personally and professionally equipped to bring this concept back to the U.S. Monica explains, “I think everybody always has ‘a-ha’ moments. That was my moment of, ‘Is this really something that could be useful in the United States?’” On her flight home, she began to draft her version of a baby box on the back of a Delta Airlines napkin. Little did she know that God would use this moment to literally be a pivotal life-changing and life-giving advancement to future mothers and babies in America.

In 1999 the Safe Haven law was passed to allow mothers to surrender their babies at fire stations, but unfortunately, mothers would have to identify themselves and risked prosecution in some cases. There were no boxes to place the child in but rather, they would need to speak with someone who could either persuade them against their decision or worse, incriminate them for it. Monica didn’t want to interfere with the laws that already existed, but she knew something had to change. She began doing research on where and how babies were abandoned. She discovered that many babies were being left at the doors of fire stations instead of in the hands of professionals. This analysis made her realize that women, in a sense, had been “asking for anonymity” for years, simply wanting to leave the child in safety without question or identification. Monica contacted a legislator to get the law changed so that women could remain anonymous. She offered her own fire station (in Indiana) as a pilot site to model how these baby boxes would help save more children. In 2016, the first baby box was built at her station, and by November 2017, the first baby was surrendered. Five months later, another baby was surrendered. Since 2017, they have had 23 infants securely placed in baby boxes in Indiana. More importantly, zero additional babies have been found dead or abandoned in the state of Indiana. That’s 23 lives saved that would have otherwise been left in a dumpster or forsaken at a backdoor.

There are 153 baby boxes in America (specific states: AZ, IN, FL, NC, NM, OH, OK, PA, TN, WV). Every state’s Safe Haven law varies slightly. Some states allow for the surrender of a child up to 7 days, some 30 days, some 90 days or even a year.

How do these Safe Haven Baby Boxes work? Legally, they must always be installed at a hospital or fire station—a place where medical personnel are able to quickly assess a baby and take care of all health needs. There is outdoor access, so a mother simply walks up to the baby box, pulls open the door, places the baby in the box and closes the door. There are three alarms that are sounded, but the mother will never hear these alarms—they are silent to the outside and notify the correct personnel on the inside. The first alarm goes off when the door is opened, the second alarm goes off when the baby is placed in the box, and the third alarm goes off when the door is closed again. The baby can only be retrieved from the inside of the hospital or firehouse. Personnel will immediately retrieve the baby and head to the emergency department. Once the child is determined to be stable and healthy, they will either go to an adoption agency or Department of Child Services so they can be quickly placed in a loving home. Recently, Safe Haven Baby Boxes were able to pass Senate Bill 345 which has enabled adoption agencies to place these babies in their “forever home” quicker. It also has put a cap on the cost of adoption prices to make adoption more affordable to families.

Having a child is both a physically and emotionally life-changing event. Mothers often need another loving human to help them know they are not alone. Safe Haven Baby Boxes offers a 24-hour hotline, 1-866-99BABY1, used to help women in crisis, women contemplating this decision, or mothers who have already surrendered their baby. This hotline is staffed by licensed professional counselors so that there is always someone there to help guide a mother through these turbulent times. A mother keeping their own child is always the goal; a Safe Haven Baby Box should be the last resort. Above all, both the mother and baby need to be safe and find life. At the end of every hotline phone call, the counselors offer to pray with the mothers. HIPAA compliant Zoom video counseling sessions are offered to help women continue to find healing and comfort. Safe Haven Baby Boxes wants to be the hands and feet of Jesus, loving women and children in their most vulnerable states through compassion, grace, and protection.

There is often a lot of misunderstanding surrounding mothers making decisions to surrender their babies. It is often assumed the mother is leaving or abandoning the child, when, in reality, they are trying to protect and provide for their child in a way they know they personally aren’t capable of doing by themselves. Just as Moses’ mom sent him down the Nile for his protection to later be found by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 1:1-25), these women are making a sacrifice for the betterment of the child.

One pregnant woman heard a press conference out of Benton, Arkansas, where the Fire Chief speaking of a baby delivered at their station, said, “The moment the baby came into our baby box, we knew he had a family [referring to the fire station family].” This mother later connected with Safe Haven Baby Box for counseling. She shared how she drove seven hours, even passing another baby box closer to her house, because she clung to the words of the Fire Chief, feeling deep in her heart that this place would take good care of her baby boy. Another mother who once surrendered a baby is now a volunteer for Save Haven. When having lunch one day, Monica probed, “Why didn’t you just go to the doorbell?” and she replied, “Because I didn’t want them talking me out of a decision that took me so long to make.” Safe Haven Baby Boxes provides a viable option for mothers who care deeply and have the maturity to know their own limitations.

It costs $15,000 to set up a Safe Haven Baby Box. This covers installation, education, training, lights, alarms, and signage. Because they are a 501c3 organization, they cannot take government or state funds and rely solely on donations or purchases from their online store. States and emergency sites are coming to Safe Haven Baby Boxes requesting set-up in their location. Over 132 babies have already been rescued and given loving homes. Yet many states are without a box, leaving many innocent lives left alone to die.

“How much is a life worth?” asks Monica. Each child is “fearfully and wonderfully made” by the hands of the Creator (Psalm 139:14). Safe Haven Baby Boxes is honoring Him with every infant they cradle and every breath they preserve. You can be a part of this rescue effort through prayer and by donating to www.shbb.org/donate or Safe Haven Baby Boxes, P.O. Box 185, Woodburn, IN 46797. If you are in need of a Safe Haven Baby Box yourself or know of someone who is, visit www.shbb.org/locations. Learn more by following Safe Haven Baby Boxes on Instagram or Facebook.