State Rep. Ed Butler says the Upper Cumberland region needs more Safe Haven Baby Boxes to provide parents in crisis with a safe, legal option to surrender a newborn.
Recently, a child was surrendered at Cookeville Regional Medical Center under Tennessee’s Safe Haven Law, a case Butler said highlights the need.
“They don’t feel like they are capable of taking care of that baby,” Butler said. “And whether they have the courage to do it face-to-face or they do it anonymously, I think it’s a great sacrifice that that mother or potentially that father is making by giving up that child.”
Safe Haven Baby Boxes are secure, temperature-controlled drop-off locations where a parent can legally and anonymously surrender a newborn, typically within a set time after birth, without facing criminal charges.
Butler said once a child is placed in the baby box, 911 is called, and the child is then taken care of by emergency responders and then handed over to the Department of Child Services to search for a foster family. Butler said boxes are a much safer option than the likely alternative outcomes if they are not available.
“They don’t want to get looked at funny, they don’t want to be judged, they are in a bad situation, and really that’s why I like the anonymous portion of the baby box, and why I am such an advocate for it,” Butler said. “I would encourage them to hand them off face-to-face, but if that woman or potentially a man is not in a position to face somebody else to hand their baby off, I sure don’t want them leaving them outside behind a dumpster or someplace outside in the woods.”
Butler said there is still a push from some legislators to bring more safe haven baby boxes across the state. Butler said several counties in Middle Tennessee still have questions they would like answered before proceeding with baby boxes. Butler said his legislation, which he has worked on, hopes to address those concerns.
“I actually have some legislation that I am carrying this year, making some corrections and some adjustments in the safe haven laws and language, and so forth, which will hopefully encourage some more baby boxes to be put in middle and east Tennessee.”
Butler said some of the changes include requiring all baby boxes to be monitored around the clock by scheduled staff… a practice that is already in place. He added that these updates would particularly benefit fire departments, which are typically the first responders when a baby is placed in a box.
“If you had a fire station that had 10 firemen and they had two fire calls, and all 10 firemen left to go fight fires, which that is what their job is, this would still allow a baby box to be put at that fire station,” Butler said.