The Hobbs City Commission has unanimously voted in favor of Resolution 7262 – mandating the installation of a “safe haven” baby box at Hobbs Fire Station #1. The firehouse is located at 301 East White Street and has been earmarked as a “safe haven site”, where parents can safely and privately surrender their unwanted infants.
Hobbs Fire Chief Barry Young told NewsWest9 that Fire Station #1 was chosen as the “baby box” site because the firehouse is located in a somewhat residential area, not on major streets. “‘So this type of system when someone is looking at putting their baby in these boxes, we want to keep it as private as possible and we’ve identified Fire Station #1 as that location,” said Chief Young.
According to Chief Young, when a baby is surrendered an alarm will sound, and firefighters will be immediately alerted. “We’ll take the baby and do what we need to do to ensure that it’s taken care of, get it to the hospital and let the process play out from there,” stated the chief.
The installation of the baby box is the outgrowth of the tragic incident in Hobbs in early January of this year when then 18-year-old mother Alexis Ávila was captured on surveillance camera throwing her newborn wrapped in a plastic bag into a dumpster behind a local shopping mall. Hours later the baby boy was found very cold but alive by dumpster divers.
Hobbs is the second city in New Mexico after Espanola to create a site for the safe surrender of an infant.
Hobbs Assistant City Attorney Rocio Ocano told commissioners at their October 3 meeting that the city will lease the baby box and “the services associated with the baby box” from the non-profit Safe Haven Baby Boxes. The initial lease with all associated services including an alarm will be for a term of one year at the cost of approximately $21,000. The lease contains a three year option to renew clause at the cost of $1,800 per year.
According to City Manager Manny Gomez, the exact date for the installation of the “safe haven baby box” has not been determined.
Chief Young says that the “baby box” will be “a game changer” for the City of Hobbs. “Knowing that there’s something available to those mothers, to those parents, that if it’s needed it’s needed and it’s okay if you have to. It’s going to be taken care of. If there’s one baby that’s saved because of the baby box then that’s definitely a win.”
