The Peach State is set to have its first Safe Haven Baby Box, a device created to prevent infant abandonment.
The device will be fully operational on Friday at the Henry County fire station located at 30 Fairview Road in Ellenwood after a blessing ceremony at 9:30 a.m., WSB-TV reported.
Safe Haven 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. Safe Haven Baby Boxes are usually community-funded and are legalized by legislation that expands existing Safe Haven laws, which every state has.
“There is no worse tragedy than to see a child, a baby that’s been abandoned,” said Henry County Fire Chief Pat Wilson, who has responded to tragic cases of abandoned babies throughout his career.
Henry County said the installation of the device was possible with the help of Aime Anderson, a resident who advocated for lawmakers to change the state’s Safe Haven law to allow for baby boxes.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a bill into law in May legalizing baby boxes in the state. HB 350, also named the Eliza Jane Warner act after a newborn who was fatally abandoned on the side of the road in Troup County in 2019, expanded the state’s Safe Haven law to allow newborn safety devices at fire stations, police stations, hospitals and ambulance services. The law also expanded the surrender window from 30 days after birth to 45 days.
State Representative Mike Cameron (R), who sponsored the bill, applauded Kemp for signing the bill into law at the time.
“This legislation strengthens the safety net for Georgia’s most vulnerable lives and ensures that emergency responders and medical professionals are better equipped to safely and quickly respond in critical situations involving newborns,” Cameron said in a statement.
He continued:
By authorizing the placement of newborn safety devices at fire stations, police stations, hospitals, and ambulance services, and permitting those facilities to accept physical custody of a newborn in certain emergency situations, we are providing families and first responders with a clearer, safer path in moments of crisis. I want to thank Governor Kemp for signing this important legislation into law, as well as my legislative colleagues for their support in advancing the measure to the governor’s desk.
The Georgia House and Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill in early April, joining two dozen other states in allowing the devices as an option for the safe and legal surrender of newborns.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes launched nine years ago in Indiana and has expanded nationwide with at least 455 locations in 25 states. More than 80 newborns have been surrendered to baby boxes across the United States, according to the organization.
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. The organization says it has assisted with more than 200 additional infant surrenders to other safe haven locations through its hotline.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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