Seventh baby box in Alabama opens in Walker County

JASPER, Ala. ( WIAT ) – A new Safe Haven Baby Box was unveiled Wednesday afternoon in Jasper.

According to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization, this is the seventh baby box in the state.

“251 boxes, 19 states later, and 201 babies have come through the baby box program since 2017,” Safe Haven Baby Boxes founder Monica Kelsey said.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes are scattered in communities throughout the country, allowing parents to surrender a child anonymously while keeping the baby safe and protected.

“Isn’t it amazing how we are sitting here today blessing a box so that we don’t stand over a grave and bless a box there?” Kelsey said.

For Kelsey, the mission to create protected spaces for women to safely surrender their newborns is personal.

“She gave birth in April of 1973 and abandoned her child, two hours after that child was born, and that child was me,” Kelsey said. “I stand on the frontlines of this ministry as one of these kids that wasn’t lovingly and safely and legally and anonymously placed in the safe haven baby box by a parent that wanted me. But this is my legacy and I am their voice.”

In 2022, Alabama lawmakers passed a bill expanding the state’s safe haven law to allow for these devices to be installed. It also extends the period a mother has to decide whether she can care for the child from 3 days to 45.

The first baby box in Alabama was installed in Madison this past January and since then, Safe Haven Baby Boxes says that box alone has saved three babies.

“Babies that have found their place to be cared for by loving individuals when mom and dad didn’t know what to do and we have that now right here in our community,” state Senator Greg Reed from Jasper said.

“It is my sincere hope and prayer that you never have to respond to a call that a baby was placed in this safe haven baby box but if you do, I know that it’s going to be one of the most rewarding calls you will ever work,” state Representative Matt Woods from Jasper said.

Jasper Fire Chief Dante Fields has served for 25 years. He says knowing the community as well as he does, he thinks Jasper is a good spot for this baby box.

“Many babies are born outside of the hospital. There’s a large homeless problem now and some of the babies that might be born are homeless and they don’t have anything to do with them,” Fields said. “They can’t take them anywhere, they might not even have transportation but us being in a centralized location, they can come here.”

Fields hopes Safe Haven Baby Boxes become standard additions to fire stations across the country.

“People have used them like people have used them in Alabama. I know that close by cities have received numerous babies already,” Fields said. “I hope that any unwanted babies will come our way. We’ve received our training and everybody is very eager and willing and wanting to do it.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS 42.