The county of Dallas has its first Safe Haven Baby Box. The door to the box is on the front of Fire Station No. 1 in Rowlett, Texas, July 30, 2026. Besides anonymity, the lock box has automatic exterior locking upon closure, and silent alarms that instantly alert medical or emergency staff.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning NewsRowlett is the first city in Dallas County to install a Safe Haven Baby Box, giving parents in crisis a legal and anonymous way to surrender a newborn under Texas’ Safe Haven law.
Nurse and mother Sarah McDermott hopes it won’t be the county’s last.
The temperature-controlled baby box installed at Rowlett Fire Station No. 1 on July 21 is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It allows a parent to anonymously place a newborn inside the box from outside the building. Once the exterior door closes, it automatically locks, and a silent alarm alerts firefighters and paramedics, who retrieve the baby within minutes, according to Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
The county of Dallas has its first Safe Haven Baby Box. On the receiving end inside Fire Station No. 1 in Rowlett, Texas, is an incubated nursery box with vented door, July 30, 2026. Besides anonymity, the lock box has automatic exterior locking upon closure, and silent alarms that instantly alert medical or emergency staff.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning NewsSafe Haven Baby Boxes is a national nonprofit that installs baby boxes at hospitals and fire stations while also operating a confidential 24-hour crisis hotline for parents in distress.
McDermott said bringing the project to Rowlett required months of fundraising and support from local donors, city officials and community partners.
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“Rowlett is a community that cares for its people at every stage of life,” Mayor Jeff Winget said in a news release. “The Safe Haven Baby Box provides parents facing unimaginable circumstances with a compassionate, anonymous and lawful option while ensuring every child can be protected and cared for.”
McDermott believes the conversations happening after the ribbon-cutting are just as important as the installation itself.
When the box opened, it sparked praise and criticism online. Some people questioned why communities need baby boxes at all. Others wondered whether they encourage parents to abandon newborns. McDermott said many people only learn about the organization after a new baby box is announced.
That often leads to criticism rooted in misunderstanding rather than the program itself, she added.
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Sarah McDermott stands next to Dallas County’s first Safe Haven Baby Box at Rowlett Fire Station No. 1 McDermott, who helped to bring the box to the city through community fundraising.
One Instagram user commented on the announcement that the baby box would lead to more births because parents would have “an option” if they later changed their minds. McDermott said she frequently responds to those comments herself.
“I try to answer people respectfully,” she said. “Once people understand why these exist, the conversation usually changes.”
She said the organization never presents a baby box as the solution to an unexpected pregnancy or the challenges of raising a child. Instead, they’re intended as a last option for someone who believes they have nowhere else to turn.
“This isn’t about encouraging someone to abandon their baby,” McDermott said. “It’s about making sure that if someone reaches that point, the baby survives.”
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Many people, she said, don’t realize the circumstances that can lead someone to surrender a baby. Some parents are overwhelmed. Others are frightened. Some may not know where to turn.
The organization cannot solve every crisis, McDermott said, but it hopes no newborn dies because someone believed they had no safe option.
“If people are talking about it, they’re learning,” she said. “And if they’re learning, maybe someone who needs help one day will know there’s another choice.”
Learning more about infant abandonment changed McDermott’s perspective and led her to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization where she now tries to inform communities about Safe Haven laws and resources for parents in crisis.
As a nurse and a mother, McDermott said stories involving abandoned newborns hit closer to home.
“When you become a parent, you look at these situations differently,” she said. “They’re babies.” Sarah and her husband are raising a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old.
The county of Dallas has its first Safe Haven Baby Box. On the receiving end inside Fire Station No. 1 in Rowlett, Texas, is an incubated nursery box with vented door, July 30, 2026. Besides anonymity, the lock box has automatic exterior locking upon closure, and silent alarms that instantly alert medical or emergency staff.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning NewsThirty-three babies have been saved this year with help from designated safe haven providers, according to the National Haven Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing infant abandonment across the country. Since 1999, 5,417 babies have been safely surrendered, and more than 1,360 callers received help in 2025 through the alliance’s crisis hotline.
Texas’ Safe Haven law allows a parent to anonymously surrender an unharmed infant who is 60 days old or younger to designated emergency providers without facing prosecution if the child has not been abused or neglected, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
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Under Texas Penal Code Section 22,041, abandoning a child can carry felony charges. It is a state jail felony if the person intends to return, a third-degree felony if the person does not intend to return and a second-degree felony if the circumstances place the child in imminent danger of death, bodily injury or physical or mental impairment.