A newborn has been surrendered to a baby box at Simpson General Hospital in Mendenhall, Mississippi. Under Mississippi state law, a mother may surrender her child up to 45 days after birth.
“When communities are prepared for anonymous surrender, we can radically change the outcome. We can avoid deadly abandonments for the infant and a life of prison for the mother,” Safe Haven Baby Box founder Monica Kelsey said in a statement obtained by WAPT. “This mother was selfless. We know these are not light decisions, and this infant will soon be adopted by a family praying for a child. Safe surrender truly makes light out of a heavy situation.”
According to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes website, the boxes aim to prevent “illegal abandonment” of newborns and are a “last resort option for women who want to safely surrender their child with complete anonymity.” The organization also offers a 24-hour hotline for mothers in crisis.
At least 59 infants have been surrendered to the boxes nationwide since 2017.
Similarly, Louisiana implemented its first baby box in October. “We hope we never have an infant put in this box,” Tammany Fire District 1 Chief Chris Kauffmann said at the time. “But if there’s that one mother that says I can’t do this, they have a location.”
“The baby, once you close the box, they can’t get access back to the baby, so the baby’s in a safe environment, it’s climate controlled, the baby’s safe until someone can get to the box and retrieve the baby,” he explained.
