A second baby has been safely surrendered to a Safe Haven Baby Box location in Tennessee.
The infant was surrendered to the baby box at Knoxville Fire Department (KFD) Station 17 in Knoxville on Friday. The surrender is the second at the location since the device was installed in 2023, WATE reported.
KFD said the baby is in excellent health and was given a short evaluation before being sent to Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital for a full checkup. The department said the baby is still doing well and is being cared for by hospital staff, according to the report.
“At the time of installation, we said if just one life was saved from this box—it would be worth it,” Mayor Indya Kincannon said. “This is the second baby surrendered to the KFD Safe Haven Baby Box, and it’s a relief to know this resource is in our city.”
Baby boxes were created to deter parents from abandoning their newborns, potentially leaving them to die. Baby boxes are temperature-controlled incubators often built into exterior walls of fire stations, police stations, and hospitals, and can be accessed from inside. At-risk mothers can safely and legally place their newborns inside. Then, the outside door locks, and mothers have time to get away before an alarm goes off, alerting first responders or hospital staff inside.
The baby is then quickly removed and sent to a hospital for a wellness check. From there, the baby is usually placed into state custody and often quickly adopted.
Under Tennessee’s Safe Haven law, unharmed newborns up to 45 days old may be surrendered to baby boxes as well as in person to hospitals, fire stations, EMS providers, and police stations, according to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization.
The first infant surrender to the Knoxville location occurred in May of 2023. That baby was ultimately adopted and place with his forever family.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes launched nine years ago in Indiana and has expanded nationwide with at least 400 locations. More than 70 newborns have been surrendered to baby boxes across the United States, according to the organization. Safe Haven Baby Boxes also says it has assisted 150 people with safe surrenders to other safe haven locations.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes has a confidential National Safe Haven Hotline, 1-866-99BABY1, that provides free counseling and information about safe surrenders, including face-to-face surrenders.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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