Ellwood City Fire Department installs Safe Haven Baby Box for parents in crisis

The Ellwood City Fire Department is the latest spot in the Pittsburgh area to install a Safe Haven Baby Box. These are locations where a parent in crisis can safely surrender a baby.

There are no cameras where the box is located. That's by design. The idea is to give anonymity to the parent surrendering a new baby.

Jennifer Jones worked in social work with adoption and saw the challenges for parents when surrendering a child.

"We can never really understand the circumstances that surround an unintended pregnancy, but we can provide a path forward," Jones said.

The box is on the backside of the fire department and monitored 24/7. Within two minutes, alerts are sent to first responders, and they get the baby medical attention. The box locks from the outside, provides oxygen, is temperature-controlled and offers material for the parent in crisis.

"Nobody sees them. Nobody tries to talk them out of a decision that is probably the hardest decision they will make in their entire life," Safe Haven Baby Boxes assistant project coordinator Mariah Betz said.

Jones said the only other Safe Haven box in this part of the state was in Hermitage. There are some across the line in West Virginia and Ohio. While state law allows you to take a baby up to 28 days old to a hospital, police, or emergency station, not everyone wants to surrender and show their face.

Within four months, she helped raise more than $16,000 to get the box installed and another $15,000 to cover its annual alarm fees.

"I think that stigma will be there until it happens to someone in your own personal life, and then it changes your perspective," Jones said.

The box and its fees are covered for 15 years.

If you or someone you know is a parent in crisis, the following links may provide useful information:

• For more information on the Safe Haven Baby Box, click here.
• For more information on Pennsylvania's Safe Haven law, click here.
• For more information on UPMC's Safe Haven Program, click here.