A baby girl was surrendered through the Safe Haven Baby Box at Racine Fire Station 4 at around 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, and firefighters say she was found to be in good health after being assessed by emergency medical personnel. The infant was transferred to Ascension All Saints Hospital and is now in the custody of child protective services, which will begin the process of identifying a permanent adoptive home.
The Racine Fire Department reported the surrender in a news release, according to the Belleville News-Democrat, saying it was the second newborn safely and legally surrendered through the service since the department launched the baby box on December 10, 2024. The device sits at Fire Station 4, located at 3829 Washington Ave. in Racine, and offers what the department describes as a safe and legal option for parents in crisis.
Fire officials emphasized that their priority is the safety of the community, including its most vulnerable members, and said the parent who used the box this time made a safe choice, with the baby now receiving care and protection, the department said in its release.
How the Box Works and What the Law Allows
Wisconsin's Safe Haven law allows parents to legally and anonymously surrender an unharmed newborn up to 30 days old, protecting them from prosecution. That 30-day window is relatively new: Governor Tony Evers signed 2025 Wisconsin Act 94 into law in March, expanding the surrender window from the previous 72 hours after birth, according to Heartlander News. Before that change, Wisconsin had one of the most restrictive surrender windows in the country.
A planned box in Sturgeon Bay was described as climate-controlled. The Racine installation became possible only after Evers signed 2023 Wisconsin Act 79 into law on December 6, 2023, formally authorizing newborn safety devices at 24/7 staffed fire stations, police stations, and hospitals statewide, per Door County Pulse. Until that law passed, parents in crisis were required to surrender infants face-to-face to hospital or emergency personnel.
A Second Surrender at the State's First Baby Box
Racine's Fire Station 4 box holds a particular distinction in Wisconsin history: its first use, on October 16, 2025, marked the first time any Safe Haven Baby Box had ever been used in the state, per the same account. Sunday's surrender was only the second time the Racine device has been used since it launched in December 2024.
Part of a Growing National Network
Wisconsin's experience mirrors a broader national expansion of infant safe-surrender technology. Safe Haven Baby Boxes was founded in 2016 in Indiana by Monica Kelsey, a former paramedic who created the organization after discovering she had been abandoned as an infant, according to WBIR. The organization has installed more than 400 boxes nationwide.
Wisconsin's own safe surrender history dates back to April 3, 2001, when the state enacted its original Safe Haven law, well before the box technology existed. More than 400 infants have been safely surrendered statewide since then, according to CBS 58. Texas enacted the nation's first Safe Haven statute, known as the Baby Moses Law, in June 1999, paving the way for all 50 states to eventually pass similar legislation.
Under the newly expanded Wisconsin statute, child welfare authorities may notify a designated Tribal agent if there is reason to believe a surrendered infant is Native American, ensuring compliance with Native American child welfare standards as custody and adoption proceedings move forward. Parents may also surrender infants in person at a hospital or fire station.
