‘This baby was being loved on by some big burly guys’ – First baby surrendered 12 days after box installed at Alabama fire station

Published 2:07 pm Thursday, January 25, 2024

Less than two weeks after a Safe Haven baby box was installed at an Alabama fire house, a mother set their baby inside the box to give the child a better life. Within two minutes, that baby was safely in the arms firefighters.

The infant girl was set inside the Safe Haven box at a Madison, Alabama, fire station, on Sunday just 12 days after the box was installed.

Within two minutes, the child was recovered from the box by firefighters.

“This baby was being loved on by some big burly guys. They’re all tough, right, they’re all tough until they get a newborn in their arms. The process worked,” Safe Haven Founder Monica Kelsey said at a press conference on Thursday.

Kelsey said she wanted to speak directly to the unknown mother who surrendered the baby in case the mother was listening.

“Your child is safe. Your child is healthy,” she said. “I know this wasn’t an easy decision for you. But we’re so proud of keeping your child safe.”

This was the first infant left surrendered through a Safe Haven Baby Box in Alabama, officials said.

Alabama’s law changed last year, modifying the Alabama’s “Safe Haven” law to authorize the Safe Haven Baby Boxes. The boxes are installed in an outside wall of a fire station and allows a baby to be anonymously surrendered. An alarm sounds when the box’s door is closed alerting authorities to the surrendered child.

The child was taken to a local hospital for medical examination and will be checked to ensure the baby wasn’t reported missing somewhere in the country. Madison County Department of Human Resource officials are caring for the baby, which will eventually go through the court process to allow an adoption.