Commission hears presentation on Safe Haven Baby Box

TOP PHOTO: LaVerne Craig with Safe Haven Baby Boxes gave a presentation at the Campbell County Commission workshop on Monday. Whether or not to enter into a contract with Safe Haven Baby Boxes will be on the agenda for next week’s commission meeting. 

By Charlotte Underwood

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- At Monday’s workshop, commissioners heard a presentation from LaVerne Craig with Safe Haven Baby Box program, which is interested in placing a box at the county’s EMS department building. The cost of the box is $25,0000, and the program would cover the first $10,000 from a private donor. The county will vote next week on whether or not to approve a contract with the Safe Haven Baby Boxes.

“I have met with Chief Bruce Perkins, and he is interested in placing a box at his location and we are interested in a partnership,” Craig said. She explained that the program “helped mothers who are in crisis, if they happen to have a newborn baby that they are unable to take care of.” Boxes can be placed at fire departments, assisted living homes, EMS departments and other emergency response locations.

She spoke briefly about the Safe Haven Law in Tennessee, saying that in 2002, Tennessee became a Safe Haven state, and “since that time, women have had the opportunity to do a face-to-face hand off if they have a baby that they cannot keep.”

“In 2022, I worked with legislators and we amended the Safe Haven law here in Tennessee to be able to put Safe Haven boxes in the state. These boxes provide a temperature-controlled atmosphere, it is all self-contained, high tech that is run, we install these into the sides of these buildings, these boxes are high tech, temp controlled at about 78 degrees all the time, they have a clear basinet in them, just like you see at the hospital… Mom opens the door from outside of the building, places the baby inside the box,” Craig explained.

She said when the mother opens the door, an orange bag falls out at her feet and it gives her information on her rights, that she has 30 days to revoke her surrender. It gives her information about human trafficking in case she is a woman who has been human trafficked, also gives her opportunity to send up information about the child. Since the first Safe Haven Box has been placed, seven children have been surrendered.

“This box provides anonymity to women, it has a security monitoring system on that box and has a tri-level alarm on it, first alarm rings into the fire station or the EMS station, second alarm rings to 911 in case there is no one at the station, so then 911 knows where they are, and the third alarm rings to whomever the designated person is at the EMS station, that might be Chief Perkins. Once the mother shuts the door, she can no longer open it, only a first responder from inside the building,” can open that box from the inside and retrieve the baby.

The average time babies are in the box is from 2 to 4 minutes. Even if someone is not in that building, someone gets the call and goes to that box. EMS will take the baby to the hospital. Most likely, the baby would first go to Tennova Hospital in the county and then transported to Dolly Parton Hospital, according to Craig.

“Once the person walks into ER with that baby the baby becomes a ward of the state and DCS takes over and it often goes straight into an adoptive placement,” Laverne said.

She said that there were 33 safe haven baby boxes in cities in Tennessee and that they had seven surrenders of newborns in Tennessee, with three of those in Knoxville.

“We opened the first Safe Haven Baby Box off Western Avenue and 99 days after that; there was a newborn baby boy in that box. We had one three weeks ago in Knoxville. These boxes are very important. We don’t want women to feel like they have to put their baby in a dumpster, or a trashcan or in a shoebox and dig a hole and put it in the ground, we don’t want these babies to be abandoned, we want these babies to be saved and have a chance at life, that is our main goal,” Craig said.

These boxes cost approximately $25,000 and it would be a five-year contract with the county and Safe Haven Boxes.

“I would like to offer up from a private donor that we currently have in the state of Tennessee that has offered $10,000 of seed money to get this baby box going. And then I would work with Chief Perkins and anyone in the community who is interested with raising the rest of the money, but we don’t raise any money until a contract is signed,” Craig said. She encouraged commissioners to go to SHBB.ORG and “look at the website and watch how a baby box works.”

Commissioner Rusty Orick said he thinks it’s a great thing, but he had questions about the contract. He asked what would happen if they didn’t raise the funds.

“We have never had a location where I haven’t raised the funds,” Craig said.

“That answers my question, sounds great,” Orick said.

“Once we get the contract signed, we will immediately move that $10,000 over to your account and start raising money for our baby box,” Craig said.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes are in 27 states and have 497 boxes and are looking to be located in every state in the U.S., according to Craig.

“This is just my opinion, because I’m not real big on taking money out of fund balance generally, but if the funds are not raised and it’s $15,000 and if it saves one baby’s life, it’s more than worth that to save one baby’s life,” Campbell County Mayor Jimmy Jeffries said.

He asked about additional costs. Craig said there was a yearly $600 maintenance fee and $550 for the monitoring fee, so about $1,000 a year.

“But we try to raise enough money to take care of that first five years, so your contract is completely complete,” Craig said.

This will be on next week’s agenda.

“Once we get approval, we will send a contract to your county attorney and we will get going,” Craig said. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-11/11/2026-6AM)