A newborn was safely surrendered to a Safe Haven Baby Box at a fire station in Ennis, Texas, authorities announced.

The newborn baby boy was surrendered to Fire Station #3 last month, soon after the baby box was installed on the side of the building. The child was found with his umbilical cord and placenta still attached, WFAA reported Thursday. 

“It functioned exactly as it was designed to do,” Ennis Fire Chief Bill Evans said. 

Authorities said the baby is healthy and receiving proper care. 

“I had him maybe 45 minutes in my care. And I mean, best minutes of my life,” said paramedic Crystal Cooper, who was one of the first responders to find the baby and rush him to a nearby hospital. 

Monica Kelsey, CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, noted that “we can’t forget … that there is a mother on the other side of the box.” 

“And we have to honor the choice that she made, but also support the decision that she chose,” said Kelsey, who was also abandoned as a child. 

“But this baby wasn’t abandoned. This baby was legally, safely, anonymously, and lovingly surrendered by a parent that wanted something more,” Kelsey said. 

Baby boxes were created to deter parents from abandoning their newborns, potentially leaving them to die. Baby boxes are temperature-controlled incubators often built into exterior walls of fire stations, police stations, and hospitals that can be accessed from inside. At-risk mothers can safely and legally place their newborns inside. Then, the outside door locks, and mothers have time to get away before an alarm goes off, alerting first responders or hospital staff inside.

Safe Haven Baby Boxes launched nine years ago in Indiana and has expanded nationwide with at least 425 locations. More than 75 newborns have been surrendered to baby boxes across the United States, according to the organization. Safe Haven Baby Boxes also says it has assisted at least 150 people with safe surrenders to other safe haven locations.

According to the local news report, there are 21 baby boxes in Texas. Kelsey said Texas used to be “the number one state in America for five years for infant abandonment, where babies were being found in dumpsters and trash cans.”

Texas has a Safe Haven law that allows the legal surrender of newborns up to 60 days after birth to hospitals, fire stations, EMS providers, and baby boxes. 

Kelsey thanked the child’s parents for choosing to give their baby a chance at life by choosing to surrender their child safely and legally. 

“Thank you. Thank you for keeping your child safe and trusting Ennis Fire Department and the Safe Haven Baby Box organization to take it from here. Your baby is safe. Your baby is being cared for with the utmost respect and love that we can give. We don’t know your story. We don’t know your circumstances. But we do know your pain. And we know that this was not an easy decision for you,” she said. 

“‘I just want to let her know we took such good care of her baby. And we thank her for the way that she left him for us,’ Cooper said. She added that during the ride to a hospital she gave the child a temporary name of Baby Ennis,” she added. 

Safe Haven Baby Boxes has a confidential National Safe Haven Hotline, 1-866-99BABY1, that provides free counseling and information about safe surrenders, including face-to-face surrenders.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.