{"id":258793,"date":"2021-12-14T08:46:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T14:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=258793"},"modified":"2021-12-15T15:04:37","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T21:04:37","slug":"canada-installs-first-safe-surrender-baby-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/canada-installs-first-safe-surrender-baby-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada installs its first ever fire station safe surrender baby box"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Canada’s first-ever safe surrender baby box not affiliated with a hospital has been installed in a fire station in Strathmore, Alberta.<\/p>\n

Safe surrender boxes are a fixture in many communities throughout the United States, often associated with the Safe Haven Baby Boxes<\/a> organization. This Canadian counterpart is based on the same idea, providing a safe, climate-controlled environment for a parent to surrender their infant. Once an infant is placed inside, an alarm is activated and emergency personnel immediately retrieve the baby.<\/p>\n

The project, called Hope’s Cradle, was spearheaded<\/a> by\u00a0Eric Alexander,\u00a0Captain\u00a0of the Strathmore Fire Department. Alexander said that the tragic case of an infant who was found dead in a dumpster on Christmas Eve in Calgary in 2017 spurred him to action, as he himself was a new father at the time.<\/p>\n

While each U.S. state has safe haven laws that allow a parent to legally surrender an infant within a certain period of time, Canada does not have the same kind of legislation. Alexander wanted to install a baby box, but there was the worry of whether or not a parent could be prosecuted for giving up an infant. He said that it took some effort to find success.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Viral TikTok shows how Safe Haven Baby Boxes save lives<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a news story of a\u00a0not-for-profit\u00a0organization in the United States that had these\u00a0Safe\u00a0Haven baby boxes, so\u00a0I contacted them, and found out there’s a lot of legal differences between the United States and Canada, as far as\u00a0Safe\u00a0Haven abandonment laws go.\u00a0It wasn’t quite as simple for us just to grab their project and work with it up here, so we kind of had to make our own\u00a0that suits the Canadian laws system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, he was able to install the box with the stipulation that as long as there are no signs of neglect or abuse, the mother will not be charged.\u00a0“We want to ensure that expectant mothers know that their anonymity will be protected and will not be released under any circumstances, as long as the child is surrendered without signs of neglect or abuse,”\u00a0he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Alexander also noted that while there are no safe haven laws in his country, he believes infant abandonment is a very big problem, especially in rural areas.\u00a0\u201cIn my conversation with\u00a0Calgary\u00a0Police Service\u00a0Members, they’re of\u00a0the\u00a0strong belief that babies are abandoned a lot more frequently than we know\u00a0and\u00a0often in rural locations,” he said. “Their bodies are most likely never found, so they were\u00a0in\u00a0full\u00a0support and thought that it would be a great initiative and\u00a0also, hopefully, capture those ones that we still might not know about that have been abandoned elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander worked with a charity organization called Gems for Gems in funding and installing what he hopes is just the first of many boxes. \u201cWe\u00a0are\u00a0really hoping that it takes off and, in 10 years,\u00a0we’ll see them\u00a0East Coast to West Coast through Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are at least two “Angel Cradles<\/a>” affiliated with hospitals, in Edmonton, Alberta, where parents may also anonymously surrender their newborns without penalty.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article originally stated that this was the first baby box in Canada. In actuality, it is the first baby box\u00a0installed with first responders which are not affiliated with a hospital in Canada. We regret the error.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada’s first-ever safe surrender baby box not affiliated with a hospital has been installed in a fire station in Strathmore, Alberta. Safe surrender boxes are a fixture in many communities throughout the United States, often associated with the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization. This Canadian counterpart is based on the same idea, providing a safe, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":211553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,4,3473],"tags":[14683,154,14684,14685,8699,8695,14686],"yoast_head":"\nCanada installs its first ever fire station safe surrender baby box<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Calgary\u00a0Police Service\u00a0Members are "of\u00a0the\u00a0strong belief that babies are abandoned a lot more frequently than we know\u00a0and\u00a0often in rural locations."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/canada-installs-first-safe-surrender-baby-box\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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