A baby girl was surrendered Monday to a newly installed baby box in Madison.
State Rep. Donna Givens (R-Loxley) sponsored a bill last year to allow baby boxes to be placed across the state. Parents are able to surrender their babies up to 45 days after birth with no questions asked.
"Under the old law, this baby could not have been surrendered because it was 72 hours," Givens said. "Thanks to the new law, it is 45 days."
Givens said the 12-day-old baby was put in the box just twelve days after being installed at Madison Fire and Rescue Station No. 1.
"I am just in tears," Givens said. "So excited. I've already thanked God because this was a little girl that, who knows what would have happened. Now we know she is in a safe place and she will be in the arms of loving parents one day."
Non-profit Kids to Love helped expand the Safe Haven law last year and gathered donors to make the boxes possible. Kids to Love founder Lee Marshall said she hopes this example is noticed throughout the state.
"We are so ecstatic that our first baby box in Madison was used within 12 days of being installed on January 10," said Marshall. "We are thankful that the mother chose to surrender her baby in the safety of a box. We hope this encourages other cities and fire stations to work with us to install more boxes across the state of Alabama to save babies' lives."
Givens thanked other lawmakers who made the baby boxes possible and donors who helped finance them and said more boxes are on the way in Foley, Mobile, Opelika, Tuscaloosa, Dothan, Anniston and Montgomery.
For now, Givens said she is thankful a life was saved. She said she would be praying for the mother and the future of the baby girl.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email erica.thomas@1819news.com.
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