'No shame, no blame, and no names,' Safe Haven Baby Box now available in Jackson

The 165th in the country and the second overall in Tennessee, a Safe Haven Baby Box debuted at Fire Station #2 in Jackson on Wednesday, providing mothers who can't care for their newborn child a safe location to surrender the child without criminal prosecution.

Jackson Fire Department Training Director Jana Compton and Jackson Medlink Communications Supervisor Christy Tillman were instrumental in pushing for a baby box in the community, touting that the overwhelming support from their coworkers, local churches, and city officials is ultimately what made it possible.

Each baby box program totals approximately $11,000 with more than half of that number going toward the construction of the box and almost $2,000 on the electrical components alone.

More: Jackson to begin fundraising for Tennessee's first 'safe haven' baby drop-off box

Though Knoxville is home to Tennessee's only other baby box, the following states have baby box locations: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. A full list of locations can be found here.

The mission of baby boxes

Founded in 2015, SHBB CEO Monica Kelsey shared the inspiration, and her subsequent life-long dedication, to providing mothers with a safe alternative when giving up their babies.

After Kelsey's mother was sexually assaulted at the age of 17 and courageously pressed charges against her attacker, she later found out she was pregnant.

"She was hidden for the remainder of the pregnancy, and then she gave birth in April of 1973, then abandoned her child two hours after that child was born," Kelsey said. "That child was me."

While reiterating that the baby box should always be exercised as a last-resort option, Kelsey noted that the box's ability to provide mothers with a sense of anonymity can aid in combatting the shame that accompanies surrendering a child.

"This box offers no shame, no blame, and no names," she said.

While reflecting on the recent tragedy of a newborn who was left in a Carver Avenue dumpster in Jackson on Jan. 19 of this year, Kelsey noted that states that have implemented baby boxes in their communities have substantially curbed newborn abandonment rates.

Designed to combat the unsafe abandonment of newborns, current Tennessee Safe Haven Laws give mothers a two-week window to surrender their unharmed newborn to a "designated facility" (hospital, fire station, police station, etc.) without fear of prosecution.

"We're getting a baby right now in our boxes every 10 to 14 days, and it's incredible the amount of parents that know the program, that are choosing life for their child, but also choosing to keep their child safe," she said.

How does it work?

Installed in the wall of the fire station, the outside door is where a mother can leave the baby safely and securely in the box while the other side of the door can be accessed by first responders inside the station.

Once the baby is placed in the box, an alarm will sound 60 seconds later alerting those inside the fire station that a baby has been placed in the box. The 60-second delay following the surrendering of the baby is intended to give the surrendering parent time to leave the immediate area anonymously and, to Kelsey's point, without shame.

"We want to make sure the mom is not seen, if she chooses," she said.

Additionally, when the box is opened, an orange bag containing a number of postpartum resources will fall out and be available for surrendering mothers to take.

As an added safety feature, the door will remain locked from the outside once the baby is placed in the box and can only be retrieved from the inside of the station.

In the event that firefighters are out on a call at the time a baby is left in the box, the alarm will dispatch to their radio alerting the nearest unit to retrieve the baby. JFD Fire Chief Don Friddle noted that the department has a four-minute response time and according to Kelsey, no baby has been left in a box for longer than four minutes and 20 seconds.

The temperature inside of the box is kept at 74 degrees Fahrenheit and additional heating features are in place when the weather gets colder.

What happens once a baby is left in the box?

As soon as firefighters remove the bassinet from inside the box, they immediately begin administering aid.

Once placed in the care of the state's Department of Child Services, the baby is placed in a foster-to-adopt home and is typically placed with what Kelsey describes as its "forever family" within 30 to 45 days from when it was left in the box.

"The adoptive family knows that there's that 30-day waiting period in that this mother could come back, and this child would go back to the biological mother if they found them fit," Kelsey said.

The future of baby boxes

Pastor Adam Dooley of Englewood Baptist Church led attendees in a prayer to bless the baby box and alluded to another one coming to Jackson soon.

"Mayor Conger shared with me recently that he has a dream that we would have boxes like this all across our city and so today I'm happy to announce that toward that effort and through the continued generosity of some of our members of Englewood, we want to step up and help you do that and take the next step," he said.

"We are funding, through a partnership with the city, the second Safe Haven box that will be placed at Fire Station #3."

Though it has yet to be disclosed when exactly the city will acquire its second baby box, the one at Fire Station #2 will be readily accessible in the meantime.

"To the parents that are out there and possibly thinking of a safe surrender — we hear you, we see you, and we'll walk alongside you," Kelsey said.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Located at Fire Station #2, Baby Box is now available in Jackson.