Louisiana Fire Station to House State’s First Safe Haven Baby Box

The Central Fire Station in Olde Towne Slidell, Louisiana, is set to be the home of the state’s first Safe Haven Baby Box, WWL-TV New Orleans reported. 

Tammany Fire District 1 Chief Chris Kauffmann said the baby box will be installed in front of the fire station.

“We hope we never have an infant put in this box,” Kauffmann said. “But if there’s that one mother that says I can’t do this, they have a location.”

Baby boxes were created to deter parents from abandoning their newborns in unsafe conditions, potentially leaving them to die. Baby boxes are temperature-controlled incubators often built into exterior walls of fire stations, police stations, and hospitals that can be accessed from inside. At-risk mothers can safely and legally place their newborns inside. Once the baby is inside the baby box the outside door locks and the mother has time to leave before an alarm goes off alerting first responders or hospital staff to the child’s presence.

The baby is then quickly removed and sent to a hospital for a wellness check. From there, the infant is usually placed into state custody and is often adopted quickly.

Slidell City Councilman Trey Brownfield said the the fundraising campaign for the baby box was launched in response to  authorities discovering the body of a newborn baby in a dumpster in 2015 at a Slidell apartment complex, according to the report. 

“You always see in the news, there’s a baby found on the side of the road, there’s a baby found here and there and it’s very disheartening when you hear those things. But in Slidell, there’s an alternative,” Brownfield said.

The state’s Safe Haven law allows parents to legally give up custody of a newborn up to 60 days old, and allows infant surrender without fear of prosecution at emergency designated facilities like hospitals, firehouses, and police stations.

This year, state lawmakers amended the state’s Safe Haven Law to allow the use of baby boxes at those locations, the report states.

The box will include an orange resource bag inside where an at-risk parent can obtain information, such as how to get mental health counseling.

“This is an opportunity for you to safely let the baby live,” Brownfield said.

As of early October, organizers had raised approximately ten percent of the $22,000 needed to purchase the baby box. Organizers hope the baby box will be installed by the end of the year.