SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — For many, being a parent is arguably one of the best and hardest jobs a person can have. Yet, not everyone who unexpectedly learns they're going to be a parent is either ready, able or actually wants to be one. It's not for everybody.
So to avoid parents feeling trapped and making rash harmful decisions, Safe Haven Laws and Safe Haven Baby Boxes have been implemented across the U.S.
In Lucas County, over at Springfield Township Fire Station Number 1, there's now a Safe Haven Baby Box. Health Resources and Services Administration's data from the National Safe Haven Alliance shows every year newborns are illegally abandoned across the nation and not every baby survives when found.
Thus these boxes offer a way to help keep a baby safe and give help to the parents if wanted. The person can anonymously give up the baby to either first responders, health care workers or trusted community members. Safe Haven Baby Box founder Monica Kelsey shared what drives her to continue fighting to have boxes everywhere.
"This 17-year-old girl pressed charges against a man who had raped her. He was arrested and he was charged. If that wasn't the worst of it, when her life was finally getting back to normal, she found out she was pregnant," Kelsey said. "She was hidden for the remainder of the pregnancy. She gave birth in April of 1973 and abandoned her child two hours after. That child was born in Bryan, Ohio, and that child was me."
To celebrate the installation of the box, first responders and community and township officials came together for a short blessing ceremony Friday.
Kelsey said she started conversations with Lucas County prosecutors to install a box back in 2018. Since then, she's worked with Springfield Township firefighter and paramedic Shelbie Flegal to get one.
"This is box number 225 in the nation," Kelsey said. "It's taken us four years Shelbie, but we finally got it done."
Flegal is a mother herself and understands the importance of having options when as a mother, you may feel like you have none.
"Standing face-to-face and handing your infant over to them, it's a lot different than knowing that you have an anonymous option that you can safely place your infant in and walk away," Flegal said.
Kelsey said questions about the validity of the box's safety come up since fire stations don't always have 24/7 attendance. Thus, the question of who will notice a baby in the box is fair but easily answered since the box sets off a silent alarm to police when opened.
"The longest time an infant has ever been in this box is four minutes and 20 seconds," Kelsey said. "So you think about that or six hours in a dumpster like the baby in Hobbs, New Mexico in 2022. The process will work and it has worked flawlessly 44 times."
Data from 2021 found 31 babies were abandoned in dumpsters or dangerous locations and 22 of them died. However that same year, Safe Haven Laws allowed parents to safely give 73 babies away to a trusted person.
Kelsey said having these boxes across the country will be able to give everyone another safe option.
"It's a win-win for everyone," Kelsey said. "You have a child's life that was saved. You have a birth parent that's not being persecuted. You also have a set of adoptive parents that are going to get a call that a baby is available."
For more information about Safe Haven Baby Boxes, click here.