Knights, Ladies Auxiliary at Assumption instrumental in fundraising for project that opened two months ago
An infant was safely surrendered at a Safe Haven Baby Box at an O’Fallon fire station less than two months after it opened.
“This mother’s bravery reminds us why we do what we do,” Safe Haven Baby Boxes founder Monica Kelsey said in a statement announcing the surrender. “We don’t take lightly the trust these women place in us on the hardest day of their lives. We are grateful that both she and her baby are safe today.”
The baby box, installed in July on an exterior wall of the O’Fallon Fire House No. 3, 600 Laura Hill Road, allows parents in crisis to surrender their infant safely, legally and anonymously. It is available 24 hours, seven days a week and is climate-controlled with a bassinet inside. Emergency responders are immediately notified by an alarm when a baby is placed inside it.
Directly addressing the mother at a Sept. 22 press conference, Kelsey said: “Thank you for keeping your child safe and thank you for trusting us and the O’Fallon Fire Department to take it from here. Your baby was picked up in under a minute, given immediate medical care and then transported to the closest medical facility for evaluation.”
The infant is in the care of the Missouri Department of Family Services’ Children’s Division and eventually will be placed for adoption.
Members of the O’Fallon Knights of Columbus #2269 and the Ladies Auxiliary at Assumption Parish played a crucial role in supporting the installation of the baby box.
An employee from the O’Fallon Fire Department approached the Knights about raising funds for the baby box and they jumped right into action. The Knights and Ladies Auxiliary held a trivia night in August 2024 in the parish hall at Assumption and with some additional donations raised about $15,500 to cover the cost of the installation.
Ladies Auxiliary president Beth Delano said that the baby box was a good fit with their mission to support pro-life issues.
“We’re pro-life through life, and this is just a way to get a young child started with a good life,” Delano said. “One thing that has really affected me is you hear about women who — for whatever situation they’re in — have no option other than to dispose of a human life. Here they have such a great option, and they can place the baby in a safe location.”
At the press conference, Kelsey stressed that the mother’s decision to safely surrender her child was not an abandonment.
“Let’s be clear when we talk about this mother, this baby was not abandoned in this box,” she said. “This baby was lovingly, legally, anonymously and safely surrendered to the Safe Haven Baby Box so that she could go on with her life and make sure that this child’s life would go on as well. It’s pretty amazing when a parent says I want what’s best for my child and it’s not me. And this parent trusted this fire department to take it from here.”
Since 2017, 67 infants have been safely and legally surrendered in baby boxes, while more than 160 additional handoff surrenders have been facilitated, according to Safe Haven Baby Boxes. Each infant enters the adoption process through families who already have been approved.
The first Safe Haven Baby Box in Missouri debuted in August 2023 at the Mehlville Fire Protection District House 2, 5434 Telegraph Road in south St. Louis County. Six months later in February 2024, a baby girl was safely surrendered in the box and eventually was adopted. A second infant was surrendered there in August.
There are currently eight baby boxes in Missouri and four in the greater St. Louis area. Others in the St. Louis area include Eureka Protection District’s Engine House 2, 1815 West Fifth St. in Eureka; and the Big River Ambulance District, 6327 Lorens Lane in Cedar Hill.
\The National Safe Haven Baby Boxes Emergency Hotline 1 (866) 99BABY1 is available 24/7 to assist mothers in crisis. For more about Safe Haven Baby Boxes, visit www.shbb.org.
Missouri’s Safe Place for Newborns Act was expanded in August to allow a parent to relinquish a newborn infant up to 90 days old without criminal consequences if they feel they are unable to care for him/her and as long as it is done safely and according to law.
The law also creates a fund to help pay for adoption expenses, post-adoption needs, promoting adoption, and intervention measures to keep children out of foster care.
Safe Haven laws generally are based on the idea of avoiding infant abandonment and parental prosecution. All 50 states have laws but may differ in criteria. Relinquishing an infant under traditional Safe Haven legislation typically involves handing the infant directly to another individual and stating that you wish to relinquish the baby under the Safe Haven law.
By contrast, Safe Haven Baby Boxes do not involve human contact. Several states, including Missouri, guarantee complete anonymity of the individual relinquishing an infant; however, most states require that infants be relinquished unharmed to maintain anonymity.
To learn more about Missouri’s law, visit stlreview.com/3qnHo3e.
