On this episode of Our American Stories, founder and CEO Monica Kelsey tells the remarkable true story behind Safe Haven Baby Boxes—secure drop boxes installed at fire stations that allow mothers to surrender newborns safely and anonymously. Conceived in rape and abandoned at birth, Monica later served in the military and became a firefighter/medic before discovering the circumstances of her own beginning. After seeing a “baby safe” box in Cape Town, she returned home, helped pass America’s first baby box legislation in Indiana, and launched the first U.S. box in 2016. Today, baby boxes are saving newborns and reducing deadly abandonments. Monica’s full story is told in her book Blessed to Have Been Abandoned.
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