{"id":120912,"date":"2026-01-13T04:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T04:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/120912\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T04:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T04:57:07","slug":"umc-opens-third-safe-haven-baby-box-in-lubbock-one-week-after-infant-surrender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/120912\/","title":{"rendered":"UMC opens third Safe Haven Baby Box in Lubbock, one week after infant surrender"},"content":{"rendered":"

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – University Medical Center leaders hosted a blessing ceremony for a new Safe Haven Baby Box on the hospital\u2019s main campus, marking the third box in Lubbock and the eighth across the South Plains<\/a>. The opening comes just one week after a mother surrendered her child to another box in Lubbock, marking the first surrender like this in Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The climate-controlled box allows parents to legally, safely and anonymously surrender infants 60 days and younger. While UMC has always accepted infant surrenders in-person under state law, the baby box provides complete anonymity for parents who may be too afraid or ashamed to enter the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are not alone and help is here,\u201d said Jill Shanklin, the vice president over the Maternal Child Service Line at UMC. \u201cBut in those circumstances where they absolutely are just too scared to come inside, then this offers a solution…so we\u2019re excited to be able to have it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

After an infant is placed in the box, an alarm notifies urgent care staff who provide immediate care. The baby is then placed into protective custody to be fostered or adopted.<\/p>\n

Shanklin said the box expands UMC\u2019s mission to care for a diverse population, as part of the healthcare hub for the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may not be local Lubbock residents. They\u2019re going somewhere where they can remain anonymous,\u201d Shanklin said. \u201cAnd so we just wanted to be able to be that recognized name. They know that they can trust us with their health care and that we would take care of their baby if we needed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nurse practitioner Alicia Powell worked with her firefighter husband and Turning Point Community Church to bring the first baby box to Lubbock, then brought her efforts to UMC for the third installation in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this spot is so nice because I mean you can literally see Tech, you know, from the doorstep, and so if there\u2019s a mama that needs help there she\u2019s very close,\u201d Powell said. \u201cAnd so I\u2019m really, I\u2019m happy that we have a location here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shanklin said she was amazed by messages of thanks and support after a mother surrendered her infant to the baby box at Fire Station Nine in Lubbock last week, marking the first use of such a box in Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an overwhelming message of thank you, thank you for taking the safe choice for your baby, and thank you for trusting us,\u201d Shanklin said.<\/p>\n

Jessi Getrost, the executive assistant at Safe Haven Baby Boxes, said after announcements of baby box surrenders, parents have reached out anonymously to thank officials for letting them know their baby was safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes they think we just do these press releases and they\u2019re just to be showy. Oh, we had a baby surrendered. But that\u2019s not what it\u2019s about,\u201d Getrost said. \u201cIt\u2019s to thank the parent for what they have done. And it\u2019s to help the community to see that this option is working. And some don\u2019t even know that it\u2019s here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The box is located at the east entrance of Medical Office Plaza II on UMC\u2019s main campus.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – University Medical Center leaders hosted a blessing ceremony for a new Safe Haven Baby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[52631,52633,12837,24284,7990,4838,4145,992,630,20369,49781,584,1822,6116,239,5292,52634,52632,48,168,170,169,52630,229,22702,52628,52627,9168,49780,374,10474,52629,27,18012,20373,512],"class_list":["post-120912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-abandonment","tag-alicia-powell","tag-baby","tag-box","tag-brittany-crittenden","tag-care","tag-center","tag-city","tag-fire","tag-first","tag-haven","tag-health","tag-hospital","tag-hub","tag-in","tag-infant","tag-jessi-getrost","tag-jill-shanklin","tag-law","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-main-campus","tag-medical","tag-mission","tag-moses","tag-opens","tag-region","tag-safe","tag-south-plains","tag-station","tag-surrender","tag-texas","tag-third","tag-umc","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}