A safe and temperature controlled baby box has been installed in St. Tammany Parish for the first time at the Central Fire Station in Olde Town, Slidell.

Louisiana law allows babies up to 60 days old to be surrendered anonymously at designated Safe Haven locations such as a hospital, police, or fire station.

Typically, babies need to be surrendered in person, but this new baby box allows for an extra layer of confidentiality for the birth mother because it removes the face-to-face interaction between the two parties.

St. Tammany’s Fire Chief Chris Kauffman said the following about the new baby box: “We hope we never have an infant put in this box. But if there’s that one mother that says I can’t do this, they have a location.”

He added, “The baby, once you close the box, they can’t get access back to the baby, so the baby’s in a safe environment, it’s climate controlled, the baby’s safe until someone can get to the box and retrieve the baby.”

The goal of Safe Haven baby boxes is always to prevent the illegal abandonment of a baby if a mother finds herself in trouble. The person surrendering the baby does not face criminal prosecution as long as the baby is surrendered free of harm and within the 60-day time period.