Baby boxes are growing nationally. KC just got its first.
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The inside of the baby box at Fire Station No. 14. Photo: Courtesy of City of Kansas City/Miko Severo
Kansas City's first baby box will make it easier for parents in crisis to safely surrender their infants.
Why it matters: Missouri already allows parents to legally surrender newborns at designated locations. The baby box offers an anonymous alternative for those unwilling or unable to make a face-to-face handoff.
Women navigating difficult decisions only have a handful of options for legally relinquishing a child, and the baby box is meant to provide a safe alternative and prevent tragedy.
Zoom in: Fire Station No. 14 on Brighton Avenue in the Northland installed and unveiled the Safe Haven Baby Box on Wednesday.
- It's a climate-controlled bassinet built into the wall meant to temporarily hold infants no more than 90 days old.
- A silent alarm alerts responders inside the station. The door automatically locks once the baby is placed inside and the hatch is closed.
Zoom out: Missouri's first baby box opened at a St. Louis County fire station in 2023 and received its first infant in February 2024.
- The state now has 17, and Kansas has three.
- 25 other states have baby boxes, per Safe Haven, although all states have rules allowing some form of legal relinquishment.
- Alaska most recently signed baby boxes into law in September.
By the numbers: As of October, Safe Haven says boxes across the country have received more than 87 infants, and its crisis hotline has facilitated 229 face-to-face handoffs in nine years.
- In 2023, a baby box in Indiana received four babies in 16 months, KLTV reported.
Between the lines: Some adoption advocates have raised concerns that the boxes aren't as ethical as in-person handoffs, and more training is needed.
What they're saying: "A Safe Haven Baby Box doesn't create an abandonment or encourage it," KCFD Battalion Chief Kelsey Whetro tells Axios. "It provides an additional option for a parent that may already be experiencing an overwhelming or desperate situation."
- Whetro says local firefighters have reported in-person surrenders in recent years, although data wasn't immediately available.
- Children surrendered to a Safe Haven box are taken to the hospital and then placed with an adoption family through the local Department of Family Services office. They don't go into long-term foster care, Whetro says.
The bottom line: Whetro says the goal is to make sure parents in crisis know they have options.