In every state in the United States, parents can legally surrender infants that they are unable to care for, but the exact policies vary by state. In some states, such as Michigan, parents can surrender a baby that is up to 3 days old. In others, parents have more time to make the decision: 45 days in Missouri, 90 in New Mexico, and 30 in Indiana, for example.
Parents residing in some states can only surrender their infants face-to-face at designated places like hospitals or fire stations, but an alternative that allows people to anonymously and safely leave their infants exists in some states: Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
This resource exists to prevent the illegal abandonment of infants by giving parents the option to surrender their babies in a safe and legal manner without face-to-face interaction. Monica Kelsey, the founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, explained to Good Morning America that giving parents the option to surrender their babies anonymously is crucial.
"We're not telling every parent to use it. We're saying this is there if you need it. We would rather you walk in and hand the child to a person but if you can't do that, here's a box," she told GMA.
More from LittleThings: Hulk Hogan Gets Baptized At Age 70: 'Total Surrender And Dedication To Jesus'
Anonymous, safe, and legal options have helped the state of Indiana, which, in 2016, became the first state to have a Safe Haven Baby Box installed. According to the Safe Haven Baby Box website, since that first baby box was installed, no babies in Indiana have died due to illegal abandonment.
Because babies have died from being left outside at safe haven locations, Monica wanted to create the Baby Boxes for a safer, climate-controlled option that immediately notifies personnel when a baby is placed inside. The baby boxes also lock automatically, but they are well-ventilated, according to the organization's website.
Monica also does this work because of the empathy she has for parents who are unable to care for their babies. In a video shared on the organization's Instagram page, she told the story of a parent in Chicago who left their baby outside of an inactive fire station in a duffel bag.
"You look at this and think, 'Why would this woman take a dead newborn there?' The answer to that is she just wouldn't," Monica explained in the video. "You might as well throw the baby in a dumpster if you're going to do that. This woman took this baby to this facility hoping this baby was going to be found."
Monica was also abandoned as an infant. After learning this, she started advocating on behalf of innocent babies and mothers in crisis.
"Getting to meet my biological mother when I was 37 years old gave me the empathy that I needed to be able to work with these moms," she told GMA. "The best part of my job is knowing that I'm helping these moms who have made a good decision, even if it's not the decision I would have made. This is their decision to make."
In addition to the baby boxes, the organization has a 24-hour hotline for mothers in crisis. Safe Haven Baby Boxes are not available in every state. There are still many states where babies can only be surrendered face-to-face, though policies are changing. Alabama's law just changed in June 2023.
Previously, parents could legally surrender their babies that were up to 3 days old at hospitals in Alabama. Now, because of the new law, babies up to 45 days old can be surrendered — at hospitals or fire stations, or anonymously via Safe Haven Baby Boxes, which are now allowed in the state as well, according to AL.com.
Baby boxes like Safe Haven Baby Boxes exist in other countries as well. Monica started Safe Haven Baby Boxes after seeing something similar in Cape Town, South Africa, according to the organization's website.
