The Big River Ambulance District is the first agency in Jefferson County, and only the second in the state, to provide a Safe Haven Baby Box.
The box is at the ambulance district’s recently completed House 1 at 6321 Lorens Lane in Cedar Hill and allows parents in crisis to safely and anonymously surrender their infant.
“The goal is to keep any unwanted child from being harmed in any way,” Big River Ambulance Chief Scott Fisher said. “There was a lot of work on everybody’s part to ensure this was done. Our crew feels ready, prepared, and eager to have this service.”
Fisher, along with the district’s Board of Directors, county officials and others gathered on Jan. 27 for the unveiling and blessing of the box.
The Safe Haven Baby Box organization, founded by Monica Kelsey, is based in Woodburn, Ind., and facilitates legal child surrenders at local agencies, operates a national crisis hotline and raises awareness about child abandonment laws at public speaking events.
Under Missouri law, parents may surrender their infant up to 45 days old at any hospital, fire station, ambulance house or police station, with no legal repercussions.
Bob Tullock, District 7 Jefferson County Councilman, who represents the western part of the county, attended the ceremony and said the box is “well worth” the time and effort it took to install it.
“Instead of abandoning their babies, mothers have got someplace to go in Jefferson County,” he said. “There are only two that I know of in the state of Missouri, one in Mehlville and the other here.”
The Mehlville Fire Protection District introduced a Safe Haven Baby Box at one of its stations in August 2023, and in February 2024, the first baby was surrendered using the box.
Fisher said when he heard about the surrender, he immediately went to the Board of Directors to see if it was feasible to install a baby box at the new house while it was under construction.
The district’s new house opened earlier this month, replacing the dated and smaller one next door. The new 9,700-square-foot building cost $4.8 million. It houses two, two-person crews, administrative offices and three bays where two ambulances and a duty vehicle are kept.
“We were in the process of building our new building, so we already had the walls up,” he said. “I had to contact both the architects and the construction team and find out if this was even possible to do.”
Retrofitting the house for the box cost $15,000, and the district paid for it using revenue from Proposition Safety, a $17 million bond issue voters approved in August 2022, Fisher said.
“It’s a very good investment,” he said. “I anticipate a lot more (baby boxes) coming in in the future.”
The Eureka Fire Protection District plans to unveil its baby box in a few weeks after final state inspections are completed, Chief Scott Barthelmass said.
That box will be located at Station 2 at 1815 W. Fifth St. near the Six Flags St. Louis amusement park in Eureka.
“It’s a high-traffic location, right there off of Interstate 44,” Barthelmass said. “There are thousands of cars that come by.”
He said the cost to have the Eureka Fire baby box installed was paid for with donations. Central Baptist Church in Eureka paid for the alarm system that goes off when the box is opened, and Waddell Concrete Inc. in Eureka installed a sidewalk leading to the box. The chief said several other local masons, carpenters and electricians donated materials and labor.
“The construction to retrofit the building, the electrical work, the alarm system, it was all funded through community donations,” Barthelmass said.
How it works
The Big River Ambulance baby box is located on the side of the house near an employee-only entrance. An opening on the other side of the wall allows crews to quickly and easily retrieve an infant placed in the box. The box is climate-controlled and well-ventilated, Fisher said.
“When the front door (of the box) is opened, there is an alarm that is set off, which will alert Jefferson County 911 Dispatch, and another alarm will go off in the house as well,” he said. “Jefferson County 911 will then dispatch an ambulance to the house, (and) we have it set up so that Cedar Hill Fire and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office will also be dispatched, should the (Big River Ambulance) crew not be in the building.”
An outside view of the Safe Haven Baby Box located at Big River Ambulance District Station 1.
The alarm allows about a minute to a minute and a half for the person who surrenders a baby to leave the area before crews arrive, Fisher said.
A packet of information drops to the ground when the door to the box is opened. The packet has forms that can be filled out by the parent to describe the infant’s medical needs or family medical history.
The fire district is allowed to have surveillance cameras around the box, but officials are not supposed to retrieve any film during the time a child is surrendered.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services came to inspect the site to ensure safety measures were met, Fisher said, and now the box is ready for use.
Instructors from the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis trained all three of the Big River Ambulance crews on how to retrieve the baby from the box; resuscitate the baby, if needed; and treat a baby with any medical condition.
“In talking with the Safe Haven Baby Box company, the babies who have been placed in the boxes have all been very healthy and well taken care of,” Fisher said. “There’s only been one deceased baby ever placed in any of their boxes.”
Fisher said he’s proud Big River Ambulance can provide the service and let parents know they have another option for child surrender.
“If somebody feels overwhelmed and it’s an unwanted pregnancy, they deliver the baby and they can’t handle it, there are other options available other than just disposing of the baby,” he said. “We thought it’d be very beneficial for the Jefferson County area, and we’re just trying to get the information out there that this is available in our district.”
Keeping infants safe
Fifty-five babies have been safely surrendered in a Safe Haven Baby Box since the organization’s inception in 2016, according to a written statement.
In addition, the organization’s crisis line has helped with more than 150 surrenders, the report said.
According to the Safe Haven website, Kelsey was abandoned by her mother as an infant and founded the organization in Indiana to support mothers in crisis and prevent child abandonment.
There are now 309 baby boxes in 19 states.
Kelsey thanked Big River Ambulance, district residents and Wachter Inc., which constructed the new ambulance house.
“We have seen time and time again that preparation can save and change lives,” she said in the written statement. “We never know when or where we will be needed, so it is crucial to have options for mothers in crisis. I am grateful for local advocates who take our mission to their community.”
For more information, visit shbb.org. Safe Haven’s 24-hour crisis hotline is 866-99BABY1, or 866-992-2291.