MOBILE, Ala. — Mobile is moving to add a third Safe Haven Baby Box, and this one would be installed at the city’s new Fire Station 19 on Azalea Road in west Mobile.
A proposed agreement between the City of Mobile and the nonprofit Safe Haven Baby Boxes calls for a box at the station at 1275 Azalea Road. The devices give a parent in crisis a way to surrender a newborn safely and anonymously. Once a baby is placed inside, an alert goes out so emergency personnel can retrieve the infant right away.
If the agreement moves forward, Station 19 would join two existing Mobile locations: USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital and Mobile Fire-Rescue’s Crichton Fire Station on Davenport Avenue.
Mobile’s Safe Haven Baby Boxes at a glance
- Proposed third location: Mobile Fire-Rescue Fire Station 19, 1275 Azalea Road
- Existing location No. 1: USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital, dedicated in September 2024
- Existing location No. 2: Crichton Fire Station, 200 Davenport Ave., dedicated in January 2025
- Who can use it: A parent who needs to surrender an unharmed newborn, anonymously and without facing abandonment charges under Alabama’s Safe Haven law
- Age limit under Alabama law: Infants up to 45 days old
- Crisis hotline: The Safe Haven Baby Boxes national hotline, 1-866-99BABY1, offers confidential help and information 24 hours a day
How a Safe Haven Baby Box works
A Safe Haven Baby Box is a secure, climate-controlled compartment built into an exterior wall of a fire station or hospital that is staffed around the clock. From the outside, it looks like a small metal door.
A parent opens the door, places the baby inside and closes it. The door locks behind them, and a silent alarm alerts emergency personnel inside the building that an infant has been placed in the box. Firefighters or medical staff can open the box from the inside within minutes, check the baby and arrange transport to a hospital for an examination.
The parent does not have to speak to anyone, give a name or answer questions. The design is meant to remove the fear of being seen or identified, which advocates say can keep a desperate parent from seeking help at all.
After a surrender, the Alabama Department of Human Resources is notified, and the child enters the state’s child welfare system, where the goal is placement with an adoptive family.
What Alabama’s Safe Haven law says
Every state has some form of Safe Haven law, which allows a parent to legally leave an unharmed newborn at a designated location without facing criminal charges for abandonment. The laws were created to prevent babies from being left in unsafe places.
Alabama expanded its law in 2023. The change, sponsored by state Rep. Donna Givens of Loxley, allowed baby boxes to be installed at fire stations and hospitals that are staffed 24 hours a day. Under current Alabama law, a parent may surrender an unharmed infant up to 45 days old with no questions asked.
Givens described the purpose of the law at the Crichton dedication in January 2025.
“It keeps a young mother from making a mistake of her life that she’ll regret to her dying day and also the possibility she may face manslaughter,” Givens said.
Parents can also surrender a baby in person, face to face, to staff at a hospital emergency room or at a staffed fire station. The baby box is an additional option for those who want or need complete anonymity.
A growing network in Mobile
Mobile’s first Safe Haven Baby Box was dedicated in September 2024 at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital, which serves as the region’s primary hospital for newborns and children.
The second followed in January 2025 at the Crichton Fire Station on Davenport Avenue, the first Safe Haven Baby Box at a Mobile Fire-Rescue station. At the time, it was the 311th box installed nationwide. Fire officials said the location was chosen in part because it is close to area colleges and to Children’s & Women’s Hospital.
Monica Kelsey, founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, spoke at that dedication and described how simple the process is meant to be for a parent in crisis.
“All they have to do is walk up to the box, open the door. Take the orange bag. Place their unharmed newborn inside. Shut the door and walk away,” Kelsey said.
Kelsey, a former firefighter and medic, founded the Indiana-based organization in 2016. The nonprofit supplies the boxes, trains personnel at host sites and operates its national crisis hotline, which connects parents with resources ranging from parenting support to information about adoption and legal surrender.
Mobile Fire-Rescue Capt. Charles Hines said at the Crichton dedication that the box gives families another choice.
“This is a resource at our department that’s going to be available to families who now have another option,” Hines said.
Why Station 19?
Fire Station 19 is one of Mobile’s newest firehouses. The city broke ground on the $4.6 million station on Azalea Road in August 2025, on the site of the former Greystone School in City Council District 4. District 4 Councilman Ben Reynolds provided half the cost through his district’s capital funding.
The new station replaces the McCosker Fire Station, which served the area for about 68 years. It is a three-bay building, up from two bays at the old station, with more room for vehicles, equipment and personnel. It houses Engine 19, Rescue 19 and dedicated hazardous materials units.
Building a baby box into a new station is simpler than retrofitting an older one, since the box must be installed in an exterior wall with an alarm connected to the crew’s quarters. Station 19’s location on Azalea Road, a busy west Mobile corridor, would also spread the city’s safe haven sites beyond the Crichton area and the hospital campus, giving parents in another part of the city a nearby option.
What happens next
The proposed agreement with Safe Haven Baby Boxes would need to be approved by the city before the box is installed. The city has not announced a date for installation or a dedication ceremony.
Installation typically involves cutting an opening in an exterior wall, fitting the climate-controlled box and connecting its alarm system, followed by training for station crews on how to respond when the alarm sounds.
If you or someone you know needs help
Any parent who is considering surrendering a newborn, or who simply feels overwhelmed, can call the Safe Haven Baby Boxes hotline at 1-866-99BABY1 at any hour. Counselors can explain options, including in-person surrender, the use of a baby box, adoption and parenting resources. Calls are confidential.
Under Alabama law, a baby surrendered at an approved location must be unharmed and no more than 45 days old. A parent who follows the law will not face abandonment charges.