By Jesse Jones
At the March 10 Bernalillo Town Council meeting, Councilor Phillip Valverde announced that the Bernalillo Fire Department’s fundraiser raised over $7,000 for the Safe Haven Baby Box project. The meeting nearly didn’t have a quorum until the last minute, when two councilors arrived and one joined by phone.
The funds will help install the baby box at the fire department’s main station, providing a safe haven for newborns in crisis. During the meeting, councilors also approved budget adjustments and grants for local projects and infrastructure improvements.
“Just an amazing job to our fire department,” Valverde said. “They were the biggest donors; the people that gave the most money were the firefighters.”
The March 1 event at the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Posse Grounds raised about $7,000, though the exact total is still being tallied, according to Interim Fire Chief Michael Carroll. The funds will go toward the $24,000 cost of installing the BabyBox.
The town has already received $9,000 in donations directly to Safe Haven, bringing the total raised to $15,600. Additionally, the town secured a $10,000 state grant. Carroll said he sent a follow-up email to Safe Haven to confirm they’ve received the funds and to check on the project’s progress. Once everything is finalized, work will begin on the installation.
“I’m confident that we should have it by late June; it just depends on the timeline from Safe Haven,” Carroll said.
The Safe Haven Baby Box will be installed at the Bernalillo Fire Station on the south side of the Town Hall at 829 Camino Del Pueblo. It will be integrated into the exterior wall, allowing discreet surrendering.
Last year, Bernalillo Fire and Rescue Lt. Manuel Terrazas and Firefighter Richard Maestas, along with Local 5334 International Association of Fire Fighters President, led the proposal for a Baby Box in town. With support from Mayor Jack Torres and former Chief Michael Legendre, they submitted a funding application, which the state approved.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes is a non-profit organization that offers a secure and legal method for parents to surrender their infants by installing baby boxes in secure locations. Monica Kelsey, who was abandoned as an infant, founded the organization in 2015.
According to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes YouTube page, when a parent places an infant in the environmentally controlled bassinet, the box automatically locks and dispenses an orange bag with resources for the parent. A silent alarm notifies firefighters 60 seconds later, allowing for the swift removal of the infant by first responders.
The baby box is designed so the parent(s) can remain anonymous. However, according to KOB-TV, once an infant is surrendered, CYFD is legally obligated by state law to investigate and allow the family to reconsider.
According to the proposed Bernalillo ordinance, the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 requires CYFD to “make reasonable efforts to determine whether the infant” is Native American.
“If it is a Native American child, then CYFD has somebody who would contact the pueblo that the child is from and offer adoption to that pueblo first,” Legendre said.
The closest Safe Haven Baby Box to the metro area was installed in Belen last October, and the first baby was surrendered there in February.
According to City Desk ABQ, Belen Fire Chief Charles Cox said he thinks their baby box was worthwhile, and with more of them throughout the state, he hopes there won’t be any more reports of babies being left in dumpsters.
According to the Valencia County News-Bulletin, a Belen firefighter and his wife adopted the 1-year-old child who was placed in the Safe Haven Baby Box on Feb. 6 in Belen.
New Mexico’s first baby box was installed in Española in 2022 after a woman in Hobbs left her baby in a dumpster, an incident the baby survived. Since then, baby boxes have been used three times statewide, with the first official surrender occurring in Hobbs in September 2023.
Baby boxes are also located in Alamogordo, Roswell, Carlsbad and Hobbs. Earlier this year, the Edgewood Commission voted to install a baby box at the county fire station.
In other meeting news
At the meeting, councilors approved two budget requests. The first, totaling $101,550, covers increases in postage and insurance. The rise in postage is due to higher certified mail costs, while insurance premiums have gone up under the New Mexico self-insurers fund.
The Police Department and Administration each requested $50,000, and the MVD department requested $550 for postage, according to Terry Grey, the town’s Treasurer/ Finance Director.
The second request, also approved, was for a $500,000 state grant for the Old 44 Bridge project. This grant, which requires no matching funds, will increase both revenue and expenditure in the capital fund.
I just want to thank Sec. (of Transportation) Ricky Serna,” said Mayor Jack Torres. “We were able to reach out to him to get help because then the cost of construction just continues to skyrocket. The original estimate for the road and bridge was $1.3 million, and our vote was more like $3.5 million.”
The council also approved a Local Government Road Fund application for drainage improvements on Rio Grande Drive, Camino Don Tomas, and Coronado Drive. The grant from the New Mexico Department of Transportation requires a 25% local match.
Get involved
The next Bernalillo Town Council meeting is at 6:30 p.m. March 24 at the Council Chambers at Town Hall at 829 Camino del Pueblo, Bernalillo.