First Safe Haven Baby Box installed at Springfield fire station

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Another Safe Haven Baby Box is available to middle Tennesseans. It provides an alternative option for people who want to safely surrender their child. Springfield leaders worked to put the box in place to protect children being surrendered shortly after birth.

With the snip of a ribbon, Springfield city officials, the community, and emergency responders unveiled the first Safe Haven Baby Box in Robertson County on Thursday.

The box allows mothers to surrender their baby in anonymously and with no questions asked. The Open Door Pregnancy and Resource Center helped raise money for the eleven-thousand-dollar box through private donors and at no cost to taxpayers.

“If this box is available, that baby is going to be put in and immediately taken. It’s just a beautiful thing that we have a resource that we can do that so that child so that child isn’t found in a trash can or some other sad situation,” said Shawn Elmore, the center’s executive director. “I have directly talked to so many women in so many different situations and I think this would be giving that child hope to survive.”

According to Tennessee law , mothers can surrender a baby up to 30 days after birth without prosecution. The box is located at Fire Station 2 on Bradley Drive. A silent alarm triggers when the temperature-controlled box is opened, notifying first responders.

“Once the baby is placed in the box, the alarm actually activates and alerts the alarm company. Then, the alarm company notifies 911 dispatch and dispatch will alert both stations one and two in case our guys are out on a call,” Jeff Glodoski, the Fire Chief for the Springfield Fire Department said. “We take custody of the baby initially and we provide any emergency medical care. Then automatically, a Robertson County ambulance is dispatched to our location.”

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Safe Haven Baby Box founder Monica Kelsey said that the issue of people feeling they have nowhere to turn when they want to surrender their child is more prevalent than most realize.

“We’re still finding a baby every three to five days in America dead in dumpsters, trash cans, alongside highways. In the states where we’re putting these boxes, abandonment rates are dropping,” Kelsey said.

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