The first baby in Kentucky was dropped off anonymously at one of the state’s secure “baby box” drop-off locations after a new state law allowed newborns to be dropped off anonymously.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes founder and CEO Monica Kelsey said at a news conference Friday that the child was dropped off the previous week at a Bowling Green Fire Department location, and that fire department personnel were able to attend to the child in less than 90 seconds.
This is the 24th child in the country to be delivered in one of more than 130 baby boxes and crates set up in nine states by Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
“This baby is healthy. This baby is beautiful. This baby is perfect,” Kelsey said, adding that officials are now looking to place the child in a “forever home.”
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The Bowling Green Fire Department’s Safe Haven Baby Box at BGFD Fire Station 7 is seen on Friday, February 10, 2023.
Friday’s delivery comes after Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, D, signed a law in 2021 allowing babies 30 days or younger to be left in baby boxes. The law requires that drop boxes be located in police stations, fire stations, or hospitals that are staffed 24 hours a day and also requires that these locations be equipped with a notification system to alert staff at the location that a drop box has been dropped off. To a child.
Kentucky currently has 16 baby box locations. The Bowling Green box had been operational for less than two months when the baby was delivered on Friday.
Safe Haven baby boxes are installed on the outside wall of a police station, fire station or hospital. An outer door automatically locks when a child is placed inside the box, and an inner door notifies a medical staff member so they can secure the baby from inside the building.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes founder Monica Kelsey speaks at a press conference at a Bowling Green Fire Department station, Friday, February 10, 2023.
“This child was legally, safely, anonymously and lovingly placed inside this Safe Haven baby box, and that says a lot about the parents,” Kelsey said.
“This child was safely and legally left in this baby box so the firefighter could get the baby out on the other side,” he continued. “The fire department did exactly what they were trained to do and it worked perfectly.”
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Friday’s delivery comes after Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, D, signed a law in 2021 allowing babies 30 days or younger to be left in baby boxes. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
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Republican state Rep. Nancy Tate, who sponsored the legislation, told WNKY-TV that she hopes to have at least one box in every county in the state.
“It fills my heart to know how supportive this project is,” Tate said.
Associated Press contributed to this report
