By Jesse Jones
The Town of Bernalillo aims to raise funds to install a Safe Haven Baby Box at the Bernalillo Fire Department’s main fire station. The Sandoval County Sheriff’s Posse will host the fundraising event.
The event is set for 5 p.m. March 1 at the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Posse Grounds, 1043 Rodeo Lane in Bernalillo. Admission is $15 per person or $20 per couple and includes a silent auction, food and live music by Str8 Shot, a New Mexico variety band that blends New Mexico music, country and rock.
“I am very hopeful that our fundraising efforts will be successful,” Bernalillo Fire Chief Michael Legendre said. “This is a very valuable resource for mothers in need within our community and the entire metro area.”
According to Legendre, the town received a $10,000 grant for the Baby Box, but with installation and fees, the cost will be approximately $24,000.
In 2022, state legislators allocated $330,000, enough funding to build one baby box in each of the 33 counties in New Mexico. The town secured $10,000 in state funding for the project.
Safe Haven, the company that provides the Baby Box, encourages the town to secure additional funding, Legendre said.
The Safe Haven Baby Box will be installed at the Bernalillo Fire Station on the south side of the Town Hall at 829 Camino Del Pueblo and will be integrated into the exterior wall, allowing discreet surrendering.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes is a non-profit organization that offers a secure and legal method for parents to surrender their infants by installing baby boxes in secure locations. Monica Kelsey, who was abandoned as an infant, founded the organization in 2015.
According to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes YouTube page, when a parent places an infant in the environmentally controlled bassinet, the box automatically locks and dispenses an orange bag with resources for the parent. A silent alarm notifies firefighters 60 seconds later, allowing for the swift removal of the infant by first responders.
Legendre said this is the first of two fundraisers planned by the Bernalillo Fire Department. Details about the second fundraiser are still being finalized and will be announced in the coming months.
The baby box is designed so that the parent(s) can remain anonymous. However, according to KOB-TV, once an infant is surrendered, CYFD is legally obligated by state law to investigate and allow the family to reconsider.
According to the proposed Bernalillo ordinance, the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 requires CYFD to “make reasonable efforts to determine whether the infant” is Native American.
“If it is a Native American child, then CYFD has somebody who would contact the pueblo that the child is from and offer adoption to that pueblo first,” Legendre said.
The closest Safe Haven Baby Box to the metro area was installed in Belen last October, and the first baby was surrendered there in February.
According to City Desk ABQ, Belen Fire Chief Charles Cox said he thinks their baby box was worthwhile, and with more of them throughout the state, he hopes there won’t be any more reports of babies being left in dumpsters.
“That baby is alive today, so that is a success for us,” Cox said. “It does great service for not only the city of Belen but the surrounding communities outside of Belen. You could go as far as Isleta or Albuquerque if there is a mother who is in distress who can’t take care of the baby or doesn’t want it, they can come down here and put it in our baby box and we will make sure her baby is well taken care of.”
The Albuquerque City Council and Bernalillo County plan to install two baby boxes in Albuquerque, with the first set for the new Fire Station 12, located at 201 Muriel Street NE, which is being built to replace the existing station.
New Mexico’s first baby box was installed in Española in 2022 after a woman in Hobbs left her baby in a dumpster, an incident the baby survived. Since then, baby boxes have been used three times statewide, with the first official surrender occurring in Hobbs in September 2023.
Baby boxes are also located in Alamogordo, Roswell, Carlsbad and Hobbs. Earlier this year, the Edgewood Commission voted to install a baby box at the county fire station.