Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child Welfare topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee approves Safe Haven amendment allowing baby boxes, sponsor says installation privately funded
Summary
Senate Bill 168, which adds manned volunteer fire departments as surrender sites and authorizes privately funded Safe Haven baby boxes, passed the committee after testimony from Monica Kelsey (Safe Haven Baby Boxes) about monitoring protocols and a 30‑day return policy; sponsor agreed to review grandparental‑rights language.
The Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee approved Senate Bill 168 to amend Arkansas’s Safe Haven Act to allow manned volunteer fire departments as lawful surrender locations and to authorize installation of privately funded Safe Haven baby boxes at surrender locations.
Senator Bledsoe, sponsor of the measure, told the committee the bill makes two changes to the 2001 law: it explicitly adds manned volunteer fire departments as surrender locations and permits the installation of electronically monitored baby boxes where desired. He said there are no mandates in the bill and that any costs to install and operate boxes would be covered by private donations.
Monica Kelsey, founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, described the box model and the organization’s safety protocols: an externally accessible opening slides a baby into an interior medical bassinet, alarms trigger immediate 911 notification and facility staff are alerted via a blue light. Kelsey said the organization tests protocols weekly, conducts twice‑daily visual checks and performs monthly cleaning; she noted the alarm vendor sends daily signals to confirm the device is online.
Kelsey cited results from other states where the box program launched and provided Arkansas figures: she said Arkansas has recorded 32 safe surrenders under existing Safe Haven law and that the organization’s hotline handled 788 calls last year nationally and three calls from Arkansas the prior year, one of which resulted in a safe surrender.
Committee members raised operational and legal questions, including testing frequency and what happens if a parent seeks the child’s return. Kelsey said a parent, mother or father, can petition and that the organization helped secure DNA testing and counsel in a case where a mother sought to reclaim a child; she said a 30‑day return window is common across jurisdictions and that Department of Child Services would determine a child’s age if unknown at surrender.
Senator Sample asked the sponsor to consider tightening testing language in the bill; Senator Bledsoe agreed to check grandparental‑rights language. The committee moved and passed SB168 by voice vote.
The sponsor said he will work with staff to refine statutory language as requested. No roll‑call tally was recorded.
