Infant Surrendered to Safe Haven Baby Box in Texas, Marking First in the State

A newborn baby was safely surrendered to a Safe Haven Baby Box in Lubbock, Texas, marking the first baby box surrender in the state, Lubbock Fire Rescue Chief Richard Stewart announced on Monday.

Authorities said a mother surrendered her infant to the Safe Haven Baby Box at Fire Station 9 within the past ten days, Everything Lubbock reported. 

“The surrender occurred in accordance with Texas Safe Haven laws, which allows a parent in crisis to safely and anonymously surrender an unharmed infant,” Lubbock Fire Rescue said. “Upon placement in the Baby Box, Lubbock Fire Rescue personnel were immediately alerted and responded within seconds to provide care and ensure the infant was transported for medical evaluation by UMC EMS personnel.”

Baby boxes were created to deter parents from abandoning their newborns, 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. Then, the outside door locks, and mothers have time to get away before an alarm goes off, alerting first responders or hospital staff inside.

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 often quickly adopted.

There are several baby box locations in the Lubbock area, including: 

• Lubbock Fire Rescue Fire Station No. 9 – 4814 50th Street, 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

Texas has a Safe Haven law that allows for the legal surrender of an unharmed newborn up to 60 days after birth to hospitals, fire stations, EMS providers, and baby boxes, according to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization. 

The organization launched nine years ago in Indiana and has expanded nationwide with at least 400 locations. At least 70 newborns have been surrendered to baby boxes across the United States, according to the organization. Safe Haven Baby Boxes also says it has assisted 150 people with safe surrenders to other safe haven locations. 

Safe Haven Baby Boxes 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.