Baby Box project moving forward in Brooke County
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WELLSBURG - Brooke County officials are one step closer to being able to provide a safe haven for babies in crisis.
In August, officials announced plans to install a Safe Haven Baby Box in the county.
"It will be installed at the Brooke County EMS building," Commission President Tom Diserio said. "This allows mothers that aren’t able of caring for their infants to safely and anonymously surrender the baby."
Safe Haven boxes were developed to offer a safe, anonymous and legal way for a new mother to turn a child over to authorities or care providers in instances where the mother feels the baby cannot be properly cared for.
The Safe Haven box provides a temperature-controlled environment, protecting the child from the elements.
Once the baby is placed in the box, an alarm - with a momentary delay - will sound, allowing the mother to leave the area, while alerting authorities.
During Tuesday’s meeting of the Brooke County Commission, Del. Jimmy Willis, R-Brooke, provided the first half of legislative funding in support of the project, with additional funds set to be arranged through the efforts of West Virginia Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke and West Virginia Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio.
The county’s contribution, as previously noted, would be to obtain a contractor to install the box once it is purchased.
"I hope we never have to use it, but I’ll sleep better knowing it’s there," Willis said.
The idea for the Safe Haven Baby Box was developed by Monica Kelsey, who learned of similar programs during a trip to South Africa. According to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes website, Kelsey herself was an abandoned baby, born to a 17-year-old girl who had been attacked and raped in the early 1970s. After going against the advice of her mother to pursue an abortion, she was hidden for the remainder of the pregnancy, abandoning Kelsey at a small hospital in Ohio two hours after giving birth.
Kelsey founded the organization with a primary goal to raise awareness of the Safe Haven Law.
West Virginia's Safe Haven Law, found under State Code 49-4-21, allows a hospital or health care facility, fire department, emergency medical service facility, or police facility the ability to “take possession of a child if the child is voluntarily delivered” to one of the described location types “by the child's parent within 30 days of the child's birth and the parent did not express an intent to return for the child.”
The law allows the parent to remain anonymous and allows the designated locations to install “newborn safety devices.”
(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com)