1st infant in Kentucky surrendered anonymously at ‘baby box’
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. 
— Kentucky has seen its first infant anonymously dropped off at one of its “baby box” safe surrender locations.
At a news conference Friday, Safe Haven Baby Boxes founder and CEO Monica Kelsey said the child was dropped off within the last seven days at a Bowling Green Fire Department location, declining to be more specific to protect anonymity. She said fire department staff was able to tend to the child in less than 90 seconds.
The child is the 24th in the country to be surrendered at one of more than 130 baby boxes and drawers the organization has established across nine states.
“This baby is healthy. This baby is beautiful. This baby is perfect,” said Kelsey, who added that officials are now looking to place the child in “a forever home.”
Gov. Andy Beshear signed a law in 2021 that allows the use of baby boxes for children less than 30 days old. The law requires the boxes to be located at police stations, fire stations or hospitals that are staffed 24 hours a day. It also requires equipping them with a notification system to alert the first responders on site that a child has been placed inside the box.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Fantastic law, will save lives. There just needs to be an extensive public awareness campaign so the women in circumstances who need this (think teenagers in horrible homes for starters) are aware of it.
Druvius
Level 8
Feb 11, 2023
1
Giving desperate women a place to dump their babies in no way makes up for the failure to support those women through the process.
@LovinLarge Right now woman and children are trapped in horrible abusive relationships with an abusive parent or partner. They do not have access to social services.
@Druvius That's always been the case and always will be until the necessary support services are made available to them, of which a place you dump your baby is not one. Regardless, there's no evidence that those are the women utilizing these dump sites. Bandaid solutions do not solve systemic problems.
And not a single word about the welfare of the mother. Not only that, that child needs to know their heritage for genetic health purposes but they never will. At the very least, these forced birth laws should be providing all types of support for the mother during pregnancy and beyond. You know we're in trouble when we start glorifying mothers abandoning their babies like this. Disgusting.
LovinLarge
Level 8
Feb 11, 2023
1
No, these laws save the babies who otherwise would get abandoned in dumpsters. Women in horrible abusive relations basically. Granted it's a bad sign that there are women/girls in these circumstances, but this is a better option than a high school restroom trash can.
@Druvius That is not exclusively true and there's no evidence to support it. Statistically, very few babies are left in dumpsters and trash cans. This is the conservative alternative to abortion. Not only did they take our bodily autonomy, they won't provide support services to sustain us during the forced birth process.
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