Photo: Svetlana Repnitskaya / Moment / Getty Images
(Windsor Heights, IA) -- The Windsor Heights Fire Department is raising money for a Safe Haven Baby Box, which would provide a way for people to anonymously relinquish their newborns.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes allow parents to anonymously surrender their baby by placing them inside the box at a designated safe haven location, such as a hospital or fire station, rather than handing them over to another person. Under Iowa’s Safe Haven law, parents have up to 90 days after birth to relinquish their parental rights.
So far, four babies have been surrendered under Safe Haven laws in Iowa this year.
“We have had the discussion that in central Iowa in the last few years there was a child found in a ditch in one of our local communities, and that’s what we want to mitigate. We don’t want that happening, and if we have more of these options out there, that’s what we want people to utilize,” said James Mease, Windsor Heights Fire Chief.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes work by alerting medical professionals and locking from the outside once a baby is placed inside, so the person dropping off the infant never has to interact with another person. There are currently two baby boxes in operation in Iowa, one in downtown Des Moines and one in Fort Dodge, with another being installed in Norwalk.
“You can stop by a fire department and drop a baby off, and our staff would, no questions, transport that baby to the hospital. But a lot of people don’t want that face-to-face; they want to remain anonymous and just go,” said Mease.
Mease says the location of the Windsor Heights Public Safety Building allows people to remain more anonymous.
Some people are opposed to baby boxes, including representatives of the Iowa Adoptee and Family Coalition, who commented on Facebook that Safe Haven Baby Boxes allow anyone to drop off a baby anonymously and don’t consider the mother’s safety.
The Windsor Heights Fire Department is working to raise $15,000 for the baby box, installation, and staff training. Mease says the department hopes to have theirs installed within six months to a year.