ST. LOUIS – A life-saving resource for newborns in St. Louis is caught in apparent bureaucratic limbo despite full approval and private funding.

The Safe Haven baby box has proven to be lifesaving in St. Louis County, when it reportedly saved an infant within months of installation at a Mehlville firehouse. A parent in crisis chose to anonymously give up their child safely at the firehouse in February 2024.

“It’s a lifeline for the newborn,” Allie Connelly said. She and Mike Ellermann worked with politicians to get one in the City of St. Louis.

“I was elated. I was very pleased to see my local government work,” Ellermann said.

Connelly said she even secured private money to pay for it.

“It never even touches taxpayer money or city money,” she said.

Last year, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen approved, and Mayor Tishaura Jones signed a bill calling for a baby box to be built at the back of a firehouse on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive by this upcoming May.

“A platform would be built here so that a mother could safely and anonymously surrender her infant,” Ellermann said while showing the proposed location of the baby box.

Except construction can take up to four months and Ellermann and Connelly said the contractor hasn’t heard a peep from the city since its passage.

“They have no clue. It’s just about a mystery to them as it is to us,” Connelly said.

The mayor’s office responded that the hold-up is because of unexpected expenses that could cost taxpayers. A spokesperson said the possible additional expenses include construction costs which may exceed original estimates. FOX 2 News took those concerns to Alderwoman Laura Keys, who introduced this legislation.

“I thought we were all good to go,” she said.

Alderwoman Keys said no one from the city has explained the delay.

“No one has reached out to me except for the private donor, who is very anxious to go ahead and get this process started,” she said.

The alderwoman can’t think of any possible excuses for the delay.

A City Hall spokesperson responded a second time, saying there’s no proof of this anonymous donor, which seems to send the message this won’t be cleared up anytime soon.