(Radio Iowa) – In an update to our earlier report, the state’s first Safe Haven Baby Box is now available on the north side of the Fort Dodge Fire Department. The box was christened Thursday with a blessing and ribbon cutting ceremony. The founder and C-E-O of the company that makes the boxes, Monica Kelsey, is a retired firefighter medic, ex military and says she has always been on the frontlines of trying to protect something.

Kelsey says she was abandoned by her 17 year old mother who had been sexually assaulted in 1972 and sees the mission of bringing baby box’s to communities across the country as a calling.

Monica Kelsey (Ft.Dodge FD photo)

The box comes to Fort Dodge after a case where a mother and father drowned their newborn in the bathtub. The next closest baby box to Fort Dodge is in St. Louis, Missouri.