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Council member Amy Beasley and fire chief explain new Safe Haven baby box at Lexington station
Summary
Council member Amy Beasley and Chief Wells described a Safe Haven baby box installed at a Lexington fire station, saying the climate-controlled unit alarms dispatch and station crews when a newborn is placed inside; the box cost about $14,000 and had not been used as of the meeting.
Council member Amy Beasley of the Eighth District introduced Chief Wells of the Lexington Fire Department to describe a newly installed Safe Haven baby box at a Lexington fire station.
"The Baby Box is a really neat community, partnership, community collaboration," Chief Wells said, describing that a local group raised funds to purchase the unit and that Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) provided funds for installation and ongoing monitoring. "It... notifies dispatch, so that they can dispatch the closest crew to come and check on this newborn who is in the box."
Chief Wells said the box is intended for anonymous, safe surrender of newborns. The unit locks from the outside after a child is placed inside to prevent someone from following the parent, and it is climate controlled. The department wrote an internal protocol for responding; per that protocol, crews would render care and the child would be transported to University of Kentucky Hospital for medical assessment and social-worker follow-up.
When asked about cost, Chief Wells said, "The box itself is about $14,000. They are built, one at a time when the orders come in, and then the... ongoing cost is just the monitoring, which is fairly nominal." Beasley asked whether parents who use the box face prosecution; Chief Wells said, "That is correct. Yes. No chance" of prosecution when the surrender is made under the Safe Haven provisions that allow anonymous surrender.
Chief Wells also said Safe Haven, the manufacturer, requires that there be no cameras monitoring the box exterior. He said LFUCG covered installation and monitoring costs for the station where the box was placed and that the department can help community groups that want to fund additional installations. "Reach out to us. We'll probably put them in contact with Community Service Bureau through the Lexington Fire Department who would assist in facilitating that process," he said.
Chief Wells said the box had not been used to surrender an infant as of the meeting; similar boxes have been used elsewhere in Kentucky.
