A fire station in Defiance, Ohio, has installed a Safe Haven Baby Box, the third one in the state, to provide a secure space for parents to leave infants they are unable to care for. The baby box, an anonymous drop-off site, is currently being tested. Parents who leave children at the site won’t be questioned or prosecuted.

Defiance decided to provide these boxes after several babies had been abandoned in fields or dumpsters. Many of these infants did not survive, therefore, the local chapter of Zonta, which was founded in 1929 and works to improve the lives of women through service, advocacy, education, and fundraising efforts, managed to raise $10,000 dollars to install the box.

"We wanted to provide another option for those mothers who feel there is no other option for them," says Cyndi Ensign, Zonta President. "In the long run there's a lot of families out there that would love to raise a child and love that child. We just felt that if there is one baby saved, it makes it completely worthwhile."

Defiance is a relatively average American city where the per capita income is $19,790. The city's population is nearly 90% white, and approximately, 7.4% of families and 8.8% of the population are below the poverty line, including 12.0% of those under age 18.

Statistics show that 65% of abandoned children are infants. The United Nations estimates that 60 million of the children and infants who have been abandoned live on their own or in orphanages. In the United States, more than 7,000 children are abandoned each year. Most municipalities have laws against child abandonment, though exceptions exist in the form of safe haven laws. Safe Haven Laws enable parents to safely abandon their newborn infants in safe locations – such as churches, hospitals, and fire stations – without facing charges for child abandonment.

The box, which aims to prevent abuse or abandonment in unsafe areas, provides parents in crisis with a solution. There are two other Safe Haven Baby Boxes in Van Wert and Hicksville, Ohio, according to the Zonta.

To use the box, parents simply need to open the door and place the baby in the bassinet. After the door is closed, an alarm will alert staff of the presence of an infant. The box is climate controlled to ensure the baby is safe while they wait for help to arrive. In the meantime, the parent can walk away with no questions asked. There are no cameras, therefore, the mother or father shouldn’t fear reprisal.

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"An alarm will go off to us down at the 911 center, they'll call and tell us that the box has been activated," says Assistant Fire Chief Tim Bowling. "Of course, we're a manned station, we're here 24/7 every day of the year, so the baby shouldn't be in the box for long."

The box will be available to provide a safe haven for babies in the next couple of weeks.