What is a baby box? Bill passes Florida House, what the law would do

Yahoo

04-04-2025

Surrendering newborn babies may become easier if a bill that passed unanimously Thursday in the Florida House becomes law.
HB 791, from Rep. Nan Cobb, R-Eustis, would authorize hospitals, EMS stations, and fire stations that are staffed 24 hours per day to use wall-mounted, temperature-controlled containers that safely accept and protect infants while notifying attendants. A similar bill was introduced in the 2023 Legislative Session but never made it out of committee.
Last year. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill expanding the state's Safe Haven law to allow parents to anonymously surrender infants up to 30 days after birth without penalty, an increase from the previous seven, and to call 911 for EMS personnel to come get the child if transportation was not available. It also allowed a parent who has just given birth to surrender the child to medical staff at the hospital.
Here's how the devices work.
In some locations around the country fire stations and hospitals have set up so-called "baby boxes," ventilated, climate-controlled incubators installed in an exterior wall with a locking door where a parent may anonymously and safely walk up and leave their child. An automatic alarm notifies staff inside the building that a baby is in there.
There are over 320 baby boxes across 20 states, with more than half of them in Indiana, according to Indiana-based Safe Haven Baby Boxes. The boxes run about $15,000, according to an analysis of the bill, with a $500 annual fee and an estimated $5,000-$7,000 in additional fees depending on location. The bill does not require boxes built by a specific company.
Surrended baby in Florida: St. Johns baby wasn't found in a box on side of the road; mother surrendered child
Baby boxes have not yet been authorized by the state. A 2023 bill to allow them (SB 870) passed several committees but died after Democrats called it a "vendor bill" since currently only one manufacturer makes them, holds the patent, leases them, and charges a yearly fee. Critics, including the similarly named A Safe Haven for Newborns, said they were costly and ineffective.
Nonetheless, there are currently six in the state:
Chiefland: Chiefland Fire Department, 16 NE 1st St, Chiefland
Crystal River: Citrus County Fire Rescue, 800 N Rock Crusher Rd
Newberry: Newberry Fire Station #28, 310 NW 250th St
Ocala:
MLK First Responder Campus, 505 NW MLK Jr. Ave
Marion County Fire and Rescue, 1400 SW 6th Ave
Spring Hill: Hernando County Fire Department, 3445 Bob Hartung Ct
Ocala was the first Florida city to get a baby box in 2020 and the first to have a baby left there. Sometime around New Year's in 2023, a healthy baby girl was dropped off and later adopted by the firefighter who was on duty at the time.
Fire stations and EMS personnel who accept surrendered infants must provide any needed emergency services and then take them to a hospital. If the child was surrendered after birth at the hospital, the mother's name is left off of the birth certificate.
If there is evidence of abuse or neglect, the hospital will report it to the statewide central abuse hotline and a criminal investigation will be started. Otherwise, medical staff will contact either a local licensed child-placing agency or the statewide central abuse hotline for placement assistance. Any child surrendered is presumed eligible for Medicaid coverage.
The parent is presumed to have given up all claims to the child. Anyone who has surrendered a child may reclaim the infant up until the time a court enters a judgment officially terminating their parental rights.
According to the nonprofit A Safe Haven for Newborns, there have been about 480 newborn babies surrendered or abandoned in Florida since the first Save Haven law was passed in 2000 under Gov. Jeb Bush. Roughly 415 infants were surrendered in a safe haven location, the organization said.
There were 65 infants abandoned in unsafe places such as public restrooms or dumpsters, the nonprofit said. Only 32 of those babies survived.
In 2024, 30 newborns were surrendered and one was abandoned, the report said. So far in 2025, four babies were surrendered.
Police in Hollywood, Florida, arrested and charged two people in March last year after a construction worker found an infant dead in a dumpster in January. Last month, a dead baby was found in a trash can near a University of Tampa dorm.
Nationwide, 4,835 babies were surrendered from 1999 to 2023, according to the National Safe Haven Alliance. 1,715 were abandoned illegally and only 642 of those survived.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Baby box bill passes Florida House. HB 791 is for infant surrender