It’s the 395th box from the Safe Haven organization, whose founder, Monica Kelsey, said had helped 71 newborns. The Hamilton baby box is also the first in Butler County.
She said that while Ohio’s law gives mothers the option to surrender a newborn to law enforcement, hospitals or an emergency service organization, such as a fire department, the state in 2017, amended its Safe Haven laws to include newborn safety incubators. And that gives mothers “100% anonymity if they so choose.”
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
“What we’re doing here today is giving a last-resort option for parents if they can’t walk into this facility and hand their child to a person,” she said.
Mayor Pat Moeller called it “a great project,” which results “puts the child and the mother both in a better place.”
“This project reflects the heart and beliefs of all the people who put this together,” he said.
Hamilton City Councilmember Michael Ryan said this box is the “opening of a door. A door to life, to love and a hopeful future.”
“It represents compassion, care and our shared commitment to protecting the most vulnerable among us,” he said. “It’s a promise that in Butler County and in Hamilton, we will always be a voice for the voiceless, we will always stand for life.”
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