Duncan's first Safe Haven Baby Box fully funded

Jan. 1—Another way to help mothers in crisis will soon come to Duncan in the form of a Safe Haven Baby Box in 2024.

Gina Flesher, project coordinator, said she's worked alongside Charis Center's Executive Director Kimberla Treat on this Safe Haven Baby Box project and the Safe Haven Baby Box is closer to its installation date after becoming fully funded in Duncan.

She stated Duncan City Council approved the process in June 2023 and since then, the project saw a huge growth with its fundraising goal of $11,000.

According to Flesher, installation will begin for the baby box in January or early February. She said they will have a certified installer who is qualified to place the box in Duncan.

Following the installation, Safe Haven Baby Boxes will do the training with everything needed in conjunction with the box arriving in the community.

Flesher said it's was an extensive process to get the box started, but after the council approved to move the project forward, they proceeded to begin the contract process.

She noted it took a little time for the contract with Safe Haven Baby Boxes to be completed.

"The contract really just has to do with making sure they understand that the box is placed in a public place — off the beaten path," she said.

She said they look to place the boxes in a public, remote and private location, typically a fire station.

"It costs $11,000 to build the box," she said. "We had some very generous donors that donated straight to Safe Haven, the money does not go to anybody local, it goes to them and they are the ones that do all of the work after that to get the box created."

She said they have to get the box from Safe Haven to meet the desired requirements and the boxes look a lot like a big red box on the outside with a handle, but when someone opens the door there's a plethora of literature inside for the parents involved in dropping the baby off.

"You can surrender your baby in a safe place and it's like an incubator inside," she said. "It's warm and it's dimly lit so it's comforting to a newborn," she said.

She stated, in Oklahoma, parents can surrender their baby up to 30 days of age and they will not be charged with abandonment. Flesher said not every state has the same law since it's a state statute.

Many of the states with boxes vary from seven days to 28 days, 30 days, 45 days or 90 days.

She said wherever people are with the baby boxes they would need to become familiar with the state statute.

Flesher said when a baby is place safely in the box, they can close the door and the door will lock, so nobody can come behind you and take the baby.

"A silent alarm goes off at the fire station and it goes not only to the station itself, so that they see it, but it also goes to dispatch and that way we're certain someone knows that baby is there," she said. "The baby is then placed in a safe environment at the hospital, Department of Human Services is informed and the process begins to place the baby in foster care and begin the adoption process."

Flesher stated the baby is typically adopted within six months of the time they found the child.

The idea for the Safe Haven Baby Boxes, Inc. is based out of Indiana by its founder, Monica Kelsey, after learning of her own birth story and witnessing the baby boxes for the first time in Cape Town, South Africa.

Kelsey is nearly 10 years into this ministry and she shares her personal story of adoption, as well as her birth mother's story.

According to Flesher, this is when Kelsey birthed this idea to bring a safe place to the United States. Kelsey has made this project her own personal mission to help educate others on the Safe Haven Law and the box stands as a way to do everything to keep babies safe while also taking "the face to face interaction out of the surrender and protects the mother from being seen," a biography states.

With a goal to raise awareness of the Safe Haven Law, women in crisis can call for counseling and assistance by way of the 24-hour hotline, 1-866-99BABY1.

Since its inception, "the hotline has received over 8,000 calls from every state in the United States," a biography states. "Safe Haven Baby Boxes has referred over 500 women to crisis pregnancy centers, assisted in 10 adoption referrals and have had over 130 legal Safe Haven surrenders. 32 babies have been surrendered in boxes since 2017. Three babies were surrendered to firefighters at Safe Haven Baby Box locations."

Following the installation of the first box, there has been no dead abandoned infants in the state of Indiana, according to a biography.

The Safe Haven Baby Boxes mission is to continue to prevent illegal abandonment of newborns by raising awareness through offering a 24-hour hotline for mothers in crises. The Safe Haven Baby Boxes provides women with an option to provide care for their newborn baby while still remaining anonymous.

There are only 134 active baby boxes within the United States to date and over 40 communities are working to place a Safe Haven Baby Box at a local hospital or fire station, according to a release.

Flesher stated after they were approved to work on the baby box they soon began putting the word out to fundraise for the project.

She said they began fundraising in September and within about six weeks they were fully funded with the money needed to fulfill this project.

"We had one very generous donor who gave money," she said. "We had someone kind of here at the end who gave money who personally sent me a text and told me her story. She herself was adopted."

She stated they had a variety of donors to the project, but they are still accepting donations to fund additional costs to keep the box in operation.

According to Flesher, there will be a cost for shipping the box.

"It will probably cost us close to $1,000," she said.

At this time, Flesher said they have a positive balance and they have just over the $11,000 needed for the box.

She said they are still accepting donations and if any more donations are made toward the baby box, it will be designated for Duncan since they have their own separate account.

According to Flesher, the account sits there, because every year they pay an annual fee to Safe Haven for their monitoring when a baby is surrendered. The account will help pay those annual fees. She also noted they will have a fee for their alarm monitoring as well.

Flesher said she is excited to bring the Safe Haven Baby Box to Duncan so a child's life can be saved while enriching someone else's life by caring for a baby or adopting a baby.

Any check donation can be mailed to: Safe Haven Baby Box, P.O. BOX 185 Woodburn, Indiana 46797, with "for Duncan, OK Baby Box" in the memo line.

For more information, email Flesher at GLF3758@gmail.com. To view a map of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, visit www.shbb.org. For more on the Oklahoma Safe Haven Law, visit https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/2019/title-10a/section-10a-1-2-109/.