Arkansas Awards Over $15 Million in State Grants for Mental Health Initiatives and Baby Boxes
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On August 23, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the Arkansas Department of Human Services gave out more than $15 million in grants to help Arkansas citizens and the Safe Haven Baby Box program.
The funding will pay for improvements to the facilities that will help people who have problems with drugs, mental health, or intellectual disabilities.
There will be $4 million given to the Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance Center in Fort Smith.
The state also announced a grant program worth $250,000 to put Safe Haven Baby Boxes all over the state.
People in Arkansas can easily give their child who is 30 days old or younger to a doctor, police officer, or fire department thanks to the Arkansas Safe Haven law.
An alarm will go off at these places if a child is left in a Safe Haven Baby Box, and someone will come right away to get the kid.
People and groups that can get this grant money are city and county hospitals with emergency rooms, police offices, and fire departments.