How does Abilene’s baby box work? A look inside Fire Station #7

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) — One year ago, a new resource was brought to Abilene. It provides a safe option for new parents to surrender a newborn baby less than 60 days old, completely anonymously.

At Fire Station #7, the Safe Haven Baby Box is located behind a brick wall to help with the anonymous factor when surrendering a baby. Abilene Fire Department Chief Cande Flores said all the person has to do is walk up, open the door, and place their baby inside.

“They put a baby inside the actual container. It has a beam that will break, and it will trip, kind of a silent alarm, until the door shuts. When the door shuts, it cannot be reopened,” Flores said. “It’s kind of an elaborate process, but it’s also a simple process.”

Once a baby is placed inside the box, firemen will come to the retrieval area right inside the truck bay to get the baby on the other side. Flores said that from there, the baby will be checked out and sent to Child Protective Services.

“The main thing is making sure the baby’s healthy and that they are safe. The ambulance crew will check them out on scene, and then the baby will be transported to the hospital,” Flores said.

More than two decades have passed since U.S. fire stations began accepting surrendered infants — a protocol that started while retired fireman Pete Berretta was still on the job.

“I don’t think anybody really thought about it until someone else came up with it, because there had been just a few that I remember, babies abandoned here in Abilene,” Beretta said.

Berretta said the new Baby Box will be especially useful during emergency calls when no one is at the station.

“I was at a very busy house, so sometimes we made a lot of runs at night, and the majority of the abandonment is done in the evening. Well, if we’re out on a run and that baby’s just sitting on the porch, it’s not good,” Beretta said.

Now, Abilene has a safer option. The Baby Box offers a secure way to surrender an infant anonymously. So far, it hasn’t been used, and fire officials say no babies have been surrendered at an Abilene Fire Station.