When Caitlin Kelly of Pass Christian answered a calling to help ensure better protection and resources for infants and their mothers in crisis, she had no idea it was the beginning of a national movement. 

A nurse, an adoptive mother, and former foster parent, Kelly has worked tirelessly alongside legislators to revive and expand an age-old Safe Haven Law for the inclusion of Baby Boxes-private drop hatches providing mothers and birth parents a last resort option for a safe, legal, and anonymous surrender of a newborn. 

Kelly is spearheading the project locally; pushing to have Baby Boxes installed in cities across the Mississippi Gulf Coast and throughout the rest of the state. 

“This is something that is near and dear to my heart, and my husband’s,” Kelly said. “The women (parents) who are choosing to surrender their child into a Baby Box must be so strong and brave. What love they must have for the child to want a better life for them.”

Long Beach is leading the way in Mississippi to support the nationwide effort. The city follows suit with other U.S. municipalities, starting with Indiana to Texas, to become the first in the Magnolia state to welcome a Safe Haven Baby Box. The action comes after the 2022 striking down of Roe V. Wade, which provided a constitutional right to abortion, and when the need for protection of newborn babies has become more important. 

According to Kelly, not many people are aware the Safe Haven Law exists. However, she said, her hope is that with the placement of every Baby Box arises an opportunity for area citizens to discover the legislation and learn more about it. 

“The Safe Haven Law has been in our state for over 20 years, the Box is just an extension of the law. It’s just another way to let women know that you have a completely anonymous option to lovingly and safely surrender your child if the need is the there.”

The first Safe Haven Baby Box for Mississippi went to Long Beach and was delivered to the city’s Fire Station at 645 Klondyke Road on July 6, 2023. The Baby Box is “a safety device…and it legally permits a mother in crisis to safely, securely and anonymosly surrender a newborn, if they are unable to care for it.  

“A Baby Box is installed in an exterior wall of a designated fire station or hospital. It has an exterior door that automatially locks upon placement of a newborn inside. The Baby Box also has an interior door, which allows a medical staff member to secure the surrendered newborn from inside the designated building,” according to Safe Haven Baby Box directives that can be found online at https://shbb.org. 

The Baby Box is actually not a box at all. It is a clear, medical grade baby bassinet that is typically lined with a blanket and some sort of padding. The box has heat and weight sensors that can sense when a baby has been placed inside, and these sensors set off silent alarms when activated. The exterior door locks once a baby is placed inside so that no one other than a first responder can remove the baby. The boxes are temperature controlled, but the babies are not left in the box for more than a couple of minutes. There are no cameras. The silent alarms alert firefighters inside the building, who can remove the baby from the box for safe transportation to the hospital, where they will receive any necessary medical care until a Child Protection Services (CPS) worker arrives to begin the process of placing the child in foster care where the child may later be adopted. 

According to Kelly, all 50 states have a Safe Haven Law. And Mississippi, like other states, has long allowed parents to surrender newborns in a close contact handoff to emergency services within a short time frame and evade any criminal penalties.

Kelly explains that updating the law was necessary because it now prioritizes anonymity as some parents in crisis may be afraid of getting recognized, and there is a stigma associated with giving up a child. Without a safe location for parents to give up their baby without being seen, parents may abandon their baby in an unsafe location. Providing parents with a safe place to give up their baby anonymously is necessary for the child’s safety.

Now, the law also permits women to leave their baby with a hospital emergency room, adoption agency, CPS, emergency medical service, law enforcement or Baby Box until the child is 45 days old. And still, there is no prosecution for a parent who voluntarily surrenders a child. 

The National Safe Haven Alliance, a nonprofit organization also dedicated to infant abandonment prevention, reports that since 1999 to 2021, more than 4,500 infants were surrendered to Safe Haven locations across the country. In 2022, seven babies were surrendered to a Baby Box, 16 in 2023, and already, according to the organization’s numbers, 11 babies this year have been left in the boxes. 

Monica Kelsey, who discovered she was abandoned as a baby, is the founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, Inc., now a national organization based in Woodburn, Ind. Kelsey witnessed the use of a ” baby box” at a church in Cape Town, South Africa.  Her mission today is to prevent illegal abandonment of newborns by raising awareness, offering a 24-hour hotline for mothers in crisis and offering the Safe Haven Baby Box as a last resort option for women who want to maintain complete anonymity.

According to Kelly, since Safe Haven Baby Boxes, Inc. installed its first Baby Box in 2016, the project has paved the way for the saving of approximately 50 babies who have been safely surrendered to one of 245 Baby Boxes currently located in 16 states across the nation. 

Baby Boxes throughout Mississippi that are fully operational also include a second box in Long Beach at its Central Fire Station located at 120 E 2nd Street, one box at the Covington County General Hospital, and another box at Simpson County General Hospital. 

Kelly said funds have already been earmarked for additional boxes in Mississippi that should be open within the next six months, approximately. This includes other South Mississippi cities Gulfport and Waveland, as well as Hattiesburg, Booneville, Gluckstadt, and Tupelo in Mississippi. While Gulfport Memorial Hospital is being discussed as a possible Baby Box recipient, the exact designated locations for the boxes has not yet been officially released. 

“We are excited that more Mississippi residents/city leaders are taking taking initiative to open their eyes to the needs of parents in crisis, Kelly said. “We are just shy of one year since the first Baby Box opened in our state – the fact that we have so many cities on board in such a short amount of time speaks volumes to me and this mission!” 

Kelly took the proposal for the installation of a Safe Haven Baby Box to several cities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Long Beach’s Board of Aldermen were the first to embrace the idea, voting unanimously for a city ordinance for the installation of a Safe Haven Baby Box on September 20, 2022.

Since it was not state law, the state laws had to be rewritten to support any city who wanted a Baby Box. Kelly with Representatives Jill Ford and Kevin Felsher wrote House Bill 1318. The change of legislation would permit the installation of a Baby Box in any city that wanted one. The laws surrounding the participating facility would also be modified. Kelly presented the rewritten bill in Jackson on December 29, 2022, and on January 27, 2023, it was passed and finally signed into law on April 19,2023.

Fast forward through all the rewriting of laws, fund raising, planning and work to install the first Safe Haven Baby Box in the state of Mississippi, to last July, when the first Baby Box for Mississippi was delivered to the Long Beach Fire Station on Klondyke Road. 

Bottom 2 Top Construction of Saucier volunteered to install the Baby Box and a dedication of the first ever Safe Haven Baby Box in the state of Mississippi got underway in “The Friendly City” in August 2023. 

As the proud CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, Kelsey instructed Long Beach firefighters in the use of the Baby Box. It is the prayer that more Baby Boxes will be installed across all of Mississippi to help save the future lives of newborn babies and their mothers.

Kelsey’s organization has also started to teach its work to Mississippi schoolchildren. Safe Haven Baby Boxes sends an educational video to guidance counselors, health classes and government classes. They also hand out pens in schools along with information about the Baby Boxes. 

Kelly said she is truly grateful to everyone for the outpouring of support the mission has received so far. 

“First and foremost, I would thank God for putting this mission on my heart,” she said. “And I would not be here talking about this today without the tremendous support of my husband, Steve.”

Kelly also highlighted others who have been instrumental in the forward motion of the Safe Haven Baby Box movement. 

“Before the legislation was changed, the city of Long Beach had already agreed to a Box,” Kelly said. “I would like to personally thank Mayor George Bass, Fire Chief Griff Skellie, and the Board of Aldermen that came alongside me to pursue this mission in their city.

“Hunter Dawkins , Gazebo Gazette, helped cover the story since day one and really helped catapult the story for others to see.

None of this would’ve been possible for the Baby Box mission to grow in our state without the unwavering support of representatives Jill Ford, Kevin Felsher, Angela Cockerham, and Lesley Davis. Those four people put forth tremendous effort on the legislative side to get this crucial bill passed. I am so thankful for each and everyone of them. God is good!”

Kelly remains a staunch advocate for the Safe Haven Baby Boxes and is dedicated to the mission. She looks forward to continuing to support efforts to install Baby Boxes and teach others about them in every city and town throughout Mississippi and beyond. 

“The biggest thing is to educate our youth and communities that the Safe Haven Law exists and that these boxes are now an option in our state,” Kelly said. “We need to get into our local schools, churches, community centers and talk about the law; talk about options and try to help parents in crisis ahead of time.”

If you are a parent in crisis, please call the National Safe Haven- Free of Charge-Crisis Line at  866-99BABY1. For more information about Safe Haven Baby Boxes, visit shbb@SafeHavenBabyBoxes.com or call 866-742-2133. 

You can also tune into their PSA video to learn more about the impact of Safe Haven Baby Boxes by visiting their Youtube channel at Safe Haven Baby Boxes PSA (2021) (youtube.com).

On the cover: Caitlin Kelly joins Melissa Sullivan, who was instrumental in having a Baby Box installed in Mississippi’s Simpson County Hospital.

Amanda Compton-Ortiz

Amanda Compton-Ortiz holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism from the University of Mississippi. She relocated from North Mississippi to Long Beach in October 2016. Amanda has worked for more than 20 years in journalism, leading and reporting for various community news publications throughout the state. She has received numerous awards for her editorial contributions from the Mississippi Press Association and placed among 224 universities competing across the United States and Canada for Reach, a personally created magazine for women.