Newborn Surrendered to Safe Haven Baby Box in Wisconsin for First Time

A newborn was surrendered to a Safe Haven Baby Box for the first time in Wisconsin’s history since the state passed a law allowing the devices in 2023.

The baby was “safely and legally surrendered” to a baby box at a fire station in the City of Racine on Oct. 16, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, citing the Racine Fire Department. The infant was surrendered to the device at 12:13 p.m. and was found in good health and immediately tended to by firefighters and emergency medical personnel.

“This marks a historic moment as the first time a Safe Haven Baby Box has been used in the State of Wisconsin,” the fire department said in the release.

The baby was transported to a nearby hospital for evaluation before being turned over to Racine County Child Protective Services, according to the report. Authorities have already begun the process of finding the child an adoptive home, the fire department said in a press release.

Baby boxes were created to deter parents from abandoning newborns in unsafe conditions, potentially leaving them to die. Baby boxes are temperature-controlled incubators often built into exterior walls of fire stations, police stations, and hospitals, and can be accessed from inside. At-risk mothers can safely and legally place their newborns inside. Once the baby is inside the baby box, the outside door locks, and the mother has time to leave before an alarm alerts first responders or hospital staff to the child’s presence.

The baby is then quickly removed and sent to a hospital for a wellness check. From there, the baby is usually placed into state custody and is often quickly adopted.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) signed a law in 2023 changing the state’s Safe Haven Law to allow municipalities to install Safe Haven Baby Boxes at hospitals, fire stations, and law enforcement buildings, where parents can surrender newborns less than 72 hours old with no face-to-face interaction. 

Since then, at least seven baby boxes have been installed across the state, including in Racine, Howard, Reedsburg, Watertown, Elkhorn, Whitewater, and Trevor, according to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization.

The Racine baby box located at Fire Station 4 at 3829 Washington Ave. was installed in December 2024.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes also has a confidential National Safe Haven Hotline, 1-866-99BABY1, that provides free counseling and information about safe surrenders, including face-to-face surrenders.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.