Safe Haven Baby Boxes cutting ties with Kids to Love
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Safe Haven Baby Boxes said Wednesday it is cutting ties with the Huntsville-based foster care group Kids to Love.
Less than a week ago, the City of Madison and several organizations held a joint news conference announcing that a baby had been placed inside the newly installed Safe Haven Baby Box. Safe Haven is the organization responsible for constructing the baby box at Fire Station 1 in Madison, and Kids to Love worked to raise money for the installation.
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Safe Haven’s Founder Monica Kelsey says Kids to Love has been a private adoption provider since 2022. Kelsey said Safe Haven does not accept donations from adoption agencies because of possible conflicts of interest. She said her group recently has been accused of “trafficking infants” because they received donations from Kids to Love. Kelsey told News 19 that Safe Haven is not accusing Kids to Love of any kind of trafficking.
At last week’s press conference, Kids to Love founder Lee Marshall said she hoped other cities would partner with her organization to bring additional baby boxes to the state.
A Kids to Love representative told News 19 on Wednesday the group has worked to pass legislation and raise money, making it possible for the baby box to be installed. The representative said the events of last week, just 12 days after the baby box was installed, show what can happen when a community comes together.
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You can read Kelsey’s full statement here:
“In accordance with Safe Haven Baby Boxes donation policy, the organization has not nor ever accepted donations from Adoption agencies as well as foster care agencies. Our third party donation policy requires that all fundraisers done on our behalf must first have our permission as well as funds sent directly to us without any middleman.
Our dedication to ethics motivates our organization to prohibit any conflict of interest. While adoption agencies might view the baby box program as an opportunity to obtain infants available for adoption with little to no work with a birth parent, SHBB has a strict policy to stay completely out of the adoption process and only focus on the surrendering parent, not adoptive families. SHBB policies and procedures prohibits our organization from taking contract or donation money directly from a known adoption agency or attorney.
The mission for Safe Haven Baby Boxes has always been to end infant abandonment. Safe Haven Baby Boxes seeks to protect vulnerable women in crisis and their infants by providing a safe place to anonymously surrender an infant. We fiercely advocate for the anonymity of our birth mothers and provide minimal information to the public to protect the mother. However, our press conferences post surrender are intended to assure the surrendering parent of the safety of their newborn. No other entities should stand to gain from our program and we do not partner with agencies or lawyers that are involved in the adoption process.
While support from other organizations is appreciated, we cannot tolerate the opportunity to piggyback on media attention at the expense of our birth mothers and their infants. Kids to Love became a private adoption agency in November of 2022 after many years as a foster care organization. This information came to the attention of our Board of Directors this past month, and as such, we are required to cut all financial and fundraising ties with Kids to Love. It is important that as nonprofit 501(c)3 organizations we all maintain the highest levels of integrity and transparency in our operations and in our fundraising. We trust that Kids to Love will understand the need for this clarification. We appreciate all that Kids to Love has and continues to do for foster children and families in Alabama.
We have set up a link on our website where supporters can donate directly to baby boxes only in
Alabama.Monica Kelsey, Safe Haven Baby Box Founder
Kids to Love also released a full statement after the announcement, you can read that here:
“Kids to Love was honored to champion the addition to the Safe Haven law in Alabama to allow the expansion of infant boxes at fire stations across our state. Our goal with this legislation was to give women an additional choice to safely surrender their babies when they are not yet ready to parent.
We knew our role was to move legislation in our state to bring another option to mothers in Alabama. Once legislation was passed in June, Kids to Love had already secured funds for the first 13 boxes across Alabama. Our team worked directly with municipalities across the state to educate them on the new law and to make them aware of our offer to cover the cost of bringing a box to their community.
We were excited on January 10 to bring the first box to Madison, Alabama, and the second box to Prattville on January 11. We were all brought to tears when the first box was used by a mother in our community within the first 12 days. As an organization dedicated to advocating for children and families, our role in this was to bring action with legislation, education in communities, and outreach with financial support to make the boxes a reality for communities across our state.
What we witnessed in Madison last week in just 12 short days of the box being opened is what
happens when a community comes together. City officials, firefighters, the community, the hospital, and the Department of Human Resources said yes to support a baby in need. Our efforts were focused solely on saving more children in our state, and Kids to Love will continue to support cities who want these boxes.”Patrick Ary, Kids to Love Spokesperson
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