RUMFORD, Maine — Rumford will become home to Maine’s first “Safe Haven” baby box after the town’s Select Board voted this month to have the device installed.
The installation is a specially designed and climate-controlled box that allows parents in crisis to anonymously surrender their infant.
“You can access the baby immediately, put it in an ambulance and take it to the emergency room,” Rumford Fire \Chief Chris Reed said. “If it was just left outside, or in the vestibule, we wouldn’t know about it until we came across it. So, timing alone, it’s a quicker response.”
Reed said the box will come through Safe Haven Baby Boxes, the nonprofit that has been raising awareness about abandonment of newborns since 2016 and has placed boxes across the United States.
The box will be placed in the town’s fire station.
Reed said he’s not aware of babies being abandoned in Rumford in the past, but he said the town and county at large are in need of a safe option in case someone needs to do so.
“It’s western Maine, so we have little resources,” Reed said. “The population has high drug use, lower income housing — lower income families. The lack of medical care, both for the mother and the baby. So, it really lines up to be a really good spot to give somebody an avenue to save the baby.”
Rumford’s Hospital ended its maternity services in 2023.
“There’s no maternity care here at the Rumford hospital,” Reed said. “There are very little prenatal care physicians that are here for it. So, I can see why somebody could really get behind the curve and have little or no resources available for them.”
According to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes website, the current closest box is in Pennsylvania.
Reed said the idea of installing a baby box in Rumford has been in the works for around two years.
“When we first did the planning for the new fire station, I brought the idea in at the planning stages,” Reed said.
Maine’s original Safe Haven law was passed in the early 2000s, allowing for newborns less than 31 days old to be surrendered at certain places — including hospitals and fire stations.
Under a 2021 amendment, Maine law allowed “safe haven baby boxes” at certain buildings. And, earlier this year, Reed said the Department of Health and Human Services finalized regulations for their use.
“The rules established it’s got to be 70 degrees,” Reed said. “It will be heated — a heated location. It’s got to [have a camera] … it has to be alarmed. Right now, we’re going to wire it to our fire alarm, so it sets our pager off. So that will be pretty foolproof.”
Reed said funding for the box will come through Maine Right to Life and other donations.
“Maine Right to Life is doing the bulk of the lift for funding,” Reed said.
It’s not yet clear when the box will be ready, but Reed said he’s working to get it installed as soon as possible.
“I’m super proud of it,” Reed said. “The community needs it. The overall county could use it. It’s not just for Rumford — anybody in the state can use it.”
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