Following years of preparation, Kansas City, Missouri, will install its first Safe Haven Baby Box after securing funding. 

Baby boxes allow mothers to safely surrender infants if they feel unable to care for them. In Kansas City, babies can currently be surrendered at police stations, fire stations and hospitals, but that requires someone to bring the child inside. 

Safe Haven Baby Boxes allow a baby to be dropped off at any time without entering a building. 

“If someone finds themselves in that situation where they may want to surrender a child, I mean, I can’t even imagine how you get to that point or what may be going through your your head – or what you may be thinking,” Kansas City Fire Chief Michael Hopkins told Heartlander News. “So it may be difficult to knock on the door of a fire station and say ‘here can you take my child?’” 

The boxes are climate-controlled and alert the fire station and a dispatch line when a baby is placed inside. The infant is then immediately retrieved and taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation, Hopkins said. 

Safe Haven Baby Boxes were founded by Monica Kelsey, who was surrendered as an infant at an Ohio hospital in 1972. Kelsey’s mother became pregnant after an assault at age 17 and chose to give birth. Even though abortion was suggested, the young mother chose life.   

As an abandoned infant herself, Kelsey founded Safe Haven Baby Boxes as a way to help mothers in crisis.   

Sherae Honeycutt, a Kansas City press secretary, began efforts to bring a baby box to the city in 2023 after learning about one installed near St. Louis. 

“What struck me about that headline is that I assumed that these boxes were all over the place,” she said. “I figured that these are things that we would just have to help mothers and children in crisis situations. 

“But I was shocked to find out that isn’t the case.” 

Honeycutt, who grew up in foster care, said circumstances such as substance abuse, poverty or domestic violence can lead a mother to consider surrendering a child. 

“When I think about women in those positions, I really understand the way that they’re thinking,” she said. “I never had to experience the loss of a child in that way; I never had to go through that situation, but I was very aware that something like that could have happened to me, and I could definitely be a woman in that situation.” 

Honeycutt said the project quickly gained support from city officials and the fire department. 

“We got on board right away,” Hopkins said. “But it’s just been a matter of getting the funding for it. … 

“We’re in the fire service and we want to serve and protect all of those in our community, particularly those who can’t protect themselves. There’s no one more vulnerable than infants, so it really was a no-brainer for us.” 

City Council member Nathan Willett brought the baby box proposal forward last spring and it passed, but welcoming a new city manager less than a month later caused some delay in moving forward with the project.  

“So that’s why it’s kind of taken a little bit, but I’m proud to see that this is prioritized,” he said.  

Great news! Northland’s Fire Station #14 has officially passed inspection and will serve as the location for Kansas City’s first Safe Haven Baby Box.

A big thank you to Brandy Fields from the state for meeting with Curtis Edwards (KCFD) and me today to make this happen.

We’re… pic.twitter.com/LOlr89VaUf

— Nathan Willett (@NathanNotNate) April 29, 2026

Baby boxes cost more than $20,000 to install and require about $600 annually for maintenance. Willet and Councilman Kevin O’Neill have control over roughly $5 million for Kansas City’s District One to spend on infrastructure projects, which are also known as PIAC (Public Improvement Advisory Committee) funds.  

The baby box will be placed in one of the fire stations within Willett and O’Neill’s district, they have the ability to take the $20,000 out of their infrastructure fund.  

“I wanted to show an example to my council colleagues that there’s something they can get done if they decide to use their funds that way,” Willett explained.  

The city’s baby box is now in production and is expected to be completed within about three weeks, Hopkins said. It will be installed at Fire Station No. 14 in the Northland, located at 8300 N. Brighton Ave. 

Honeycutt said she hopes additional boxes will be installed across Kansas City and Missouri. Officials are considering adding at least two more locations, including central and southern parts of the city, Hopkins said. 

“There’s a lot of projects that take 20 years,” Honeycutt said of the three-year effort. “I was always very confident that we would get to this day, … and I’m really grateful for everybody who has taken part in this.” 

“This is a pro-life victory,” Willet declared. “You don’t really see many pro-life victories in blue cities like Kansas City, and I think this is something that should be celebrated, because Kansas City and our region values life.”