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MENDENHALL, MISSISSIPPI (JANUARY 23, 2024)- The second Baby Box in Mississippi will
be blessed on Wednesday, January 24th at 1 PM CST. Simpson General Hospital features the
Baby Box on the back of the building by the ER for mothers in crisis to surrender their infant
anonymously if they are unable to parent. The Baby Box is available 24/7 following the blessing
and the community is welcome to attend the blessing to learn more about the program.
Including the new Mendenhall location, there are now 196 Baby Boxes in the U.S.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes was formed by Monica Kelsey in 2016 as she learned in adulthood that
she was abandoned as an infant. Today, the organization fights tirelessly to protect women in
crisis and their infants in a mission to end infant abandonment. A key aspect of this mission is
the Safe Haven Haven Baby Box which allows for the legal safe surrender of a baby with
complete anonymity. It is permissible in states that have amended their state’s existing Safe
Haven Law to allow for Baby Box placement. Currently, Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas,
Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Iowa,
Missouri, West Virginia, and Mississippi have a Baby Box presence within their state.
The organization aids women in crisis with their National Hotline, 1-866-99BABY1. The hotline
provides free, confidential counseling with an expertise in each state’s Safe Haven Law.
Education is a key component of Safe Haven Baby Boxes’ mission. Kelsey shared, “Mississippi
passed legislation to allow for Baby Boxes last year and now we are happy to have another
community come on board to protect vulnerable women and their infants. We can have an
amazing change in outcome when we are proactive.”
If a woman chooses to surrender her infant via the Baby Box, the door locks when the mother
closes the box. Alarms alert the location that a baby has been surrendered and personnel will
retrieve the infant within five minutes. The infant will immediately be transported to the hospital
for medical evaluation and the baby will be with their adoptive family soon. Families seeking to
adopt a Safe Haven baby should reach out to their local Department of Family Services to
register for foster care with intention to adopt.
“We are so excited to be the first hospital in the state of Mississippi to have this
life-saving device,” explained Melissa Sullivan, RRT BS Education coordinator at Simpson
General Hospital. The community raised funding for the project. Daniel Furgeson, General
Contractor & Reggie Chisholm with Guardian Electrical donated their time to install the Baby
Box.
In 2023, a record 17 babies were surrendered via Baby Box. More women are trusting the
organization to protect themselves and their infants in a time of need. Since the first Baby Box
surrender in 2017, 38 infants have been placed in a Baby Box with the numbers increasing year
over year. The hotline has also assisted with over 130 surrenders at Safe Haven locations.
For more information please contact Monica at monicakelsey@safehavenbabyboxes.com
