On a drizzly May day, dozens of people gathered in a fire station’s bay in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, in an atmosphere that defied the grey weather. We came for dedication, blessing, gratitude, and remembrance.
The reason was a new installation in the station’s eastern wall: a Safe Haven Baby Box, designed so that an infant can be surrendered anonymously and safely through a door on one side of the box, to receive care and fostering on the other side. The box is designed so that a signal alerts the station’s firefighters when a child is placed inside.
In one way the project was a tribute to Baby Grace, the baby in the pond. In another way it was an act of hope and faith: hope that the box will never be needed, and faith that if it is, a child’s life will be saved.
New Hampshire’s original safe haven law was passed in 2003. Any police station, fire station, hospital, or staffed church can take in an infant surrendered in accordance with the law. Now, the Baby Box offers another way to surrender a baby safely and anonymously.
“Hope and resilience for our entire community”
First responders were there for the dedication, including some of the police and firefighters who responded when Baby Grace was found in Pine Island Pond. Leaders of Pennacook Pregnancy Center were there; the Center funded the project. Father Jason of nearby St. Joseph Cathedral offered a prayer of blessing. The mayor gave heartfelt remarks.
Silence fell over the firehouse when it was Fire Chief Ryan Cashin’s turn to speak. “Every fire station in the city is a place where the community can feel safe, knowing we are here 24 hours a day, and this Safe Haven Baby Box further demonstrates the commitment by the city of Manchester providing a secure option for vulnerable infants, making this fire station a true Safe Haven. While we cannot change the past, our commitment is to make the future safer and stronger. Today I pray that the efforts by the City of Manchester, Pennacook Pregnancy Center, Safe Haven Baby Boxes [among others]…will inspire hope and resilience for our entire community. I can’t thank everyone here enough.”
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Ellen Kolb 