LOCKWOOD- A new option for parents in crisis has quietly arrived in Montana.
Billings is now home to the state’s first Safe Haven Baby Box — a secure, anonymous way for parents to legally surrender their newborn without fear of judgment or prosecution.
The box is located at the Lockwood Fire District station, and while it offers a lifeline for vulnerable infants, one question remains: Will anyone use it?
Watch the video below:
“We hope we don’t have to have this box be used by somebody,” said Lockwood Fire Chief Branden Stevens. “But we also hope that somebody uses this baby box.”
Montana’s Safe Haven Law allows parents to legally surrender their baby at a designated location with no questions asked.
“This history of fire stations is usually considered a place of safety,” said Fire Marshal Kevin Sparrow.
“Having this box here is just a testament to that.”
Sparrow, a father and longtime public servant, began advocating for a Safe Haven Baby Box two years ago.
“Can we do something to provide another option?” he recalled thinking. “To give this baby a chance.”
There are currently 134 Safe Haven Baby Boxes across nine states.
The program was founded by Monica Kelsey, an Indiana woman who was abandoned as a baby herself. Her mission is to protect vulnerable infants and support parents in crisis.
According to Safe Haven, since 2017, 23 infants have been safely and anonymously surrendered using the boxes.
Here’s how the box works:
If a parent needs to surrender a baby, they can go to the Lockwood Fire Station, locate and open the Safe Haven Baby Box. The parent can remove the provided orange packet, place the infant safely in the bassinet, close the door and leave anonymously.
“Once that baby is placed into the box, the door will not open again,” said Sparrow. “There is a video camera, a weight sensor. We will be notified right away.”
In most cases, emergency responders arrive in less than five minutes.
In all his years of service, Stevens said he has never seen a baby surrendered at a fire station.
“This box may sit here for the next 50 years and never be used,” he said. “I just think it fills that gap of the resources that are out there. If it gets used, then we’ve done our job.”
Lockwood Fire says the baby box cost about $15,000 to install and maintain, and was donated anonymously.
As of now, the box is not yet operational.
On June 4, 2025, founder Monica Kelsey is scheduled to be in Billings to dedicate and unveil the box.
