Texas sees first Safe Haven Baby Box surrender in Lubbock

LUBBOCK, Texas — The City of Lubbock has seen an important step in Texas history, making sure abandoned babies have a chance in life.

After more than two years of installing a Safe Haven Baby Box at Lubbock Fire Rescue Station No. 9, the box saw its first use to help a mother surrender her baby safely and anonymously.

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“To the mother, I don’t know your situation or your pain, but I know in your darkest moment, you have the courage and love for your baby to give them a chance at life, and we are grateful for that,” said Richard Stewart, fire chief of LFR. “We are praying for you, for your healing, your healing and your peace.”

For context, Texas has a Safe Haven Law – also known as the Baby Moses Law – which allows a parent in crisis to safely and anonymously surrender an unharmed baby to a hospital, fire station, independent emergency centers or emergency medical services station.

Both Stewart and Monica Kelsey, CEO of Safe Haven Baby Box, said that once the child — nicknamed “Baby Lubbock” — was delivered, it took staff less than a minute to reach the baby. From there, fire personnel began to evaluate her before EMS took over the child’s medical welfare.

“To the parent, thank you,” Kelsey said. “Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for trusting the fire department to get her out of here. Your baby is safe and your baby is healthy, and the process is working for a family forever to get the call they’ve been waiting for, probably for years.”

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Kelsey said that this use is also a testament to the need for more cities to use baby boxes in Texas and more in cities that already have them.

For context, Lubbock County has four in total, in the following locations:

• Lubbock Fire Rescue Station No. 9 – 4814 50th St., Lubbock, Texas 79414

• Wolfforth Fire & EMS Station – 305 Cedar Ave., Wolfforth, TX 79382

• Covenant Children’s Hospital – 4002 24th St., Lubbock, TX 79410

• Covenant Health Levelland – 1900 College Ave., Levelland, TX 79336

A fifth is coming soon to University Medical Center in Lubbock.

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“The more boxes that are brought in, the more we can work in the communities, educate our first responders, educate the schools that this is now available anonymously, but also remind the public that this has always been here,” Kelsey said.

As of 2017, Kelsey said there were 74 babies placed in Safe Haven Baby Boxes across the country and 187 handoffs, with the organization having 410 active boxes across the nation.

Kelsey and Stewart were both joined at the Monday, January 5 press conference in Lubbock by Mayor Mark McBrayer, Mayor Pro Tem Christy Martinez Garcia and Councilwoman Jennifer Willson.

Martinez Garcia said this moment shows what happens when a community comes together to address an issue for the greater good.

“It shows how when we work together, good things can happen for all of us and for the future of this beautiful baby that I will now call ‘Baby Lubbock’,” she said. “(Mayor McBrayer) said about ‘Lucky me, I live in Lubbock.’ No. Bless me. We are blessed, we live in Lubbock. And that makes all the difference, that we have a caring community with resources.”

If you or the parents of someone you know are in crisis, Kelsey encourages them to call the Safe Haven Crisis line at 1-866-99BABY1 or visit https://www.shbb.org/parents-in-crisis.

Mateo Rosiles is a reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and the USA TODAY Network in Texas. Do you have a news tip for him? Email him: mrosiles@lubbockonline.com.

This article originally appeared on the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock sees first Safe Haven Baby Box surrender in Texas