Maine is expected to get its first Baby Box, a device created for at-risk mothers to surrender their newborns safely and anonymously.
Rumford Fire Chief Chris Reed told News Center Maine that a new fire station being built downtown is expected to have a baby box. The box would “by all accounts, be the first such installation in Maine,” according to the report.
“It’s a prime location,” Reed said of Rumford. “There’s not a lot of services here that would be available to a newborn mother in Rumford.”
Reed added that the town has high poverty, drug use, limited family resources, and the Rumford Hospital closed its maternity ward in February of last year.
“Why would you want to place a baby where it’s at high risk anywhere, whether it’s where it shouldn’t be outside, in bad conditions, left alone in a car?” Reed said. “It’s a last-minute option…
