A healthy baby girl is in good hands after being placed in the Safe Haven Baby Box at Racine, Wisconsin’s Fire Station Four last month.
It was a first for Local 321 members.
“There is nothing routine about being in the fire service, but none of us were expecting the baby box alarm to go off that day,” Local 321 member Marco Ostricki said. “I was cleaning up our workout area and saw someone walk up to the box, place a baby inside, and leave. The first thing we did was to check the baby’s vitals and make sure she was okay.”
The Wisconsin safe haven law, passed in 2023, allows parents to anonymously surrender newborns using baby boxes. The boxes are attached to hospitals, fire stations, and law enforcement agency buildings that are staffed 24/7.
Racine’s box was installed in December 2024, joining others in Howard, Reedsburg, Watertown, Elkhorn, Whitewater, and Trevor.
“We transported her in our med unit to Ascension All Saints Hospital for a full evaluation,” Ostricki said. “Child protective services told us that a new family has already been found for the baby, and adoption is in progress.”
Parents who use a designated safe haven location are protected from criminal charges of abandonment or neglect. Similar laws exist in all 50 states.
“We are so grateful that a new home was found for this baby already,” Local 321 President Jose Carbajal said. “Making sure parents who are not in a place in their lives to take care of a baby is why these safe haven boxes exist. And we were proud to do our part.”
