Muscle Shoals opens new Safe Haven Box; now 10 total in Alabama [MAP]
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“Saving Babies One Box At A Time”
That’s the message on the front of new Safe Haven Box in Muscle Shoals. The box is officially open, allowing parents to legally surrender infants up to 45 days old without being charged with abandonment.
See all the details about the new baby box + learn more about the law and the locations of the other boxes around the state.
Muscle Shoals Safe Haven Box
This addition has been added to the department’s newest station. Here’s what you need to know about the new Safe Haven Baby Box:
- Where: Muscle Shoals Fire Station 4
- Address: 2816 Old Hwy 20, Tuscumbia, AL 35674
- Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week
“Safe Haven Baby Boxes mission 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 Boxes as a last resort option for women who want to maintain complete anonymity.”
~ City of Muscle Shoals
The boxes are an expansion of Safe Haven laws, also sometimes called Baby Moses laws, which allow parents to legally and anonymously surrender an unwanted baby to a fire station, hospital, sheriff’s office, or any other first responder’s office. These laws were started in 1999, and by 2008 were in every U.S. state.
The box is climate controlled and once a baby is placed into it, firefighters at the station are alerted. The child is then taken to the Alabama Department of Human Services Child Care Division.
10 boxes in Alabama
The one opening in the Shoals is the 10th box to open in Alabama. Three babies have been reportedly turned in at these boxes.
Read more about the box installed in Mobile earlier this year.
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