Safe Haven Baby Box unveiled in Jonesboro

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - A new way to avoid tragedy while providing parents another option to give up their baby is now available in Jonesboro.

A Safe Haven Baby Box was unveiled at the Jonesboro Fire Station Number 3, 2212 Brazos Street, marking the completion of the around $15,000 project funded by the Knights of Columbus.

The box is ready to be used and designed for parents who might be considering abandoning their baby under 30 days old.

Founder and CEO Monica Kelsey says it gives parents another way to choose life.

“This is that last resort option that is available to the moms who have just exhausted everything else they have tried. Rather it be a parenting plan, rather it be an adoption plan,” said Kelsey. “This is a resource for them that we have made possible and legal and safe.”

Kelsey explained she was abandoned as an infant and said it’s essential to save innocent lives.

It is the sixty-second box in the country and the fourth in Arkansas.

Once the baby is placed in the box, a silent alarm goes off with an average of a four-minute response time for emergency crews to get to the baby.

According to the Arkansas Department of Human Services, Arkansas has a Safe Haven Law that allows parents to bring a child, 30 days old or younger, to an employee at any hospital emergency room, law enforcement agency, the fire department that is staffed 24 hours a day or a baby box location anonymously without being prosecuted for child endangerment or child abandonment.

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