The American organization, Safe Haven Baby Boxes, has begun to install a kind of mailboxes (or boxes) in different states of the country so that mothers can leave unwanted newborns there.
The main objective is to avoid deaths caused by the abandonment of babies in the streets. It has a silent alarm inside that contacts emergencies 30 seconds after the newborn is deposited.
But not everyone approves the initiative, which has led the association's founder to clarify that "It is the last alternative for women in crisis."
It is not the first country to carry out a similar solution, far from it. We already talk to you about babyklappe, a kind of mailboxes for unwanted newborns, which have existed for more than 17 years in Austria (and in other countries such as Germany, Belgium, Austria, Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa and Hungary), and that are so dear and hated there as in the case of the United States.
Nor can we forget the cribs of India, in an attempt and end the 'disappearance' of two and a half million girls.
In Babies and more Mailboxes to abandon babies, as dear as they are hatedAlthough they have been operating since 2016 in the United States, it is now that they have reached greater diffusion and the controversy has been unleashed, as BBC News explains, the first medium that echoed the news.
But what are these 'mailbox boxes' for newborns?
13 boxes in three states, and they want more
Monica Kelsey, founder of Save Haven Baby Boxes So far, six are installed in Indiana, two in Ohio and five in Arizona. But Safe Haven Baby Boxes explains on its Facebook that it is already working to extend the initiative to Georgia, Arkansas and Michigan, and is raising money to build 100 more boxes.
The idea came from Monica Kelsey, who was abandoned as a baby, and now works to help other newborns.
Although its founder says that they are currently not having legal problems to install these mailboxes, the Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, has already vetoed the law by considering it inappropriate "Allow parents to give up their baby simply by placing it in one place, instead of delivering it to a police officer, fire department or hospital employees."
What does the law say about it
In the United States, a mother can leave her son in the so-called 'Safe Shelters', although the law forces her to have to face when it comes to doing so.
This situation, as explained by the Save Haven Baby Box association on its website, can cause some young women to be ashamed to choose to abandon babies at the doors of a hospital, a police station or a fire station: "This implies that it may be hours before someone finds the newborn, who may already be dead from hunger or malnutrition."
Hence the existence of these mailbox boxes, which allow the mother to leave her child in a safe place, maintaining her anonymity.
They have temperature regulators and a silent alarm inside that contacts emergencies 30 seconds after the newborn is deposited and allows, ensures the organization, that newborns are treated by emergency services three to five minutes later.
The founder of the initiative says it is "a way to save innocent lives".
This video of the association may help you to better understand what the purpose of these 'baby boxes' is and why, in their opinion, they are necessary.
Photos | Facebook Safe Haven Baby Boxes
