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Weiser Memorial Hospital installs ‘Safe Haven Baby Box’
By Kathryn Pasker Ineck
ICR Assistant Editor
WEISER – In June, Karinda Palmer’s years of advocacy toward bringing a Safe Haven Baby Box to Weiser Memorial Hospital were realized as she and supporters participated in a Ceremony of Hope and Compassion.
St. Agnes pastor, Father Jorge Garcia, offered a prayer service for the Baby Box blessing.
“You love all newborn children and their mothers even in the most desperate of situations,” he prayed. “Send Your divine blessing upon this new Baby Box, on any new mother who feels compelled to use it on their infants they nearby trust to our care and all who devote themselves to caring for them.”
The Safe Haven organization offers options for a mother in crisis to safely and anonymously hand her baby to medical professionals or emergency responders for adoption through social services.
Across the U.S., 4,500 infants have been legally relinquished under Safe Haven laws. Two hundred of those babies were handed off, face to face, through the Safe Haven organization, and 87 were transferred via a Safe Haven Baby Box.
“Safe Haven Baby Boxes prevent illegal abandonment of newborns by raising awareness, offering a 24-hour hotline for mothers in crisis, and implementing Safe Haven Baby Boxes as a last-resort option for women who want to safely surrender their child with complete anonymity,” the organization states on its website.
Baby Boxes are temperature-controlled, ventilated bassinets installed in the exterior wall of a location staffed with round-the-clock monitoring, like hospitals, fire stations, police stations or, in rare cases, churches.
When the parent opens the box, an orange bag falls out, filled with resources in English and Spanish for the mother to access for ongoing care.
She may choose to fill out information for her baby to include medical background or personal information, but she is not obligated to do so. She may also decide to start a reunification process within a certain time period should she find herself in a better place.
Once a baby is placed in the bassinet, the exterior door locks for added security and an alarm sounds inside the building to alert staff to care for the child, accessing the box from the interior side.
“We never want this box to ever have to be used,” said Weiser Memorial Hospital CEO and St. Agnes parishioner Beau McNeff. “But if we save just one baby’s life, all of this is worth it.”
“[She has] been advocating to get a Safe Haven Box here for three years,” he said of Palmer’s efforts. “It was Karinda’s courage and passion that fueled this endeavor … We would not be here today if it wasn’t for her relentless pursuit of this amazing service.”
Once her project received the go-ahead, it took just 30 days to raise the money, roughly $30,000, through donations and is the third installed in Idaho: the other two are located at the Bonner County EMS Building in Sandpoint and at Grove Creek Medical Center in Blackfoot.
State Rep. Nancy Tate of Kentucky, a parishioner at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church in Brandenburg, Ky., spoke on behalf of Safe Haven Baby Boxes. Tate works closely with founder Monica Kelsey, who was an abandoned infant conceived through an act of violence.
Moved by a 2018 tragic situation in Bowling Green, Ky., when an infant was left in a cardboard box on the steps of a church, Tate was moved to get involved with the Safe Haven organization.
“I truly appreciate the family for [surrendering the baby and trying to protect it in a box]. I truly appreciate the mother for doing that because just utilizing the Safe Haven Laws and the Safe Haven Baby Boxes has to be tremendously emotional.”
But a cardboard box doesn’t protect a child in winter temperatures. At the urging of a constituent, Tate propelled the cause, first to enact a Safe Haven Law in Kentucky and then to have a Safe Haven Baby Box installed right there in Bowling Green. Since then, two babies have been safely surrendered to that location.
Idaho state Sen. Brandon Shippy also spoke, emphasizing the inherent value and dignity every child possesses.
“We want mothers in our communities to know that their babies will be cared for,” he said. “There are times when many face overwhelming circumstances, and they simply do not know where to turn. We need mothers who are facing these circumstances to know that they are not alone. We need them to know that there are people who care. Families willing to open their homes and a community that stands ready to help.
“Today is a milestone. It is an accomplishment, but it isn’t a celebration. We don’t celebrate broken circumstances or acts of desperation. Rather, this is a recognition that when crisis arises, our desire is to see life preserved and children protected. The measure of a society is often seen in how it treats its most vulnerable, and no one is more vulnerable than a newborn child.”
Shippy said his concern is for both the mother and the baby.
“The measure of a society is often seen in how it treats its most vulnerable. And no one is more vulnerable than a newborn child. Today, this community is making a statement that, even in moments of crisis and trouble, life is valuable. Children matter and hope is real.
“So, my prayer is that this box is rarely needed, but if the day ever comes when a desperate mom feels that she has nowhere else to turn, may she know that life is the only option and may she know that there are people in this community who care and may this box serve its purpose in preserving life and in protecting a child who bears the image of God.”
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