WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Baby boxes provide a safe and anonymous way for mothers or providers to surrender their infant without giving out personal information or being seen. Infants must be no more than 30 days old.
When a baby is placed in the box, a delayed silent alarm is triggered and will alert firefighters in the station. The alarm also alerts the Monroe County Central Dispatch to make sure the baby is picked up right away.
The Safe Haven Baby Box is administered and protected under the Indiana Safe Haven Law, which “enables a person to give up an unwanted infant anonymously without fear of arrest or prosecution.” No information such as date, birth or medical is required of the person leaving the baby unless there are signs of abuse.
After babies are dropped off they are given full medical treatment if needed and then taken into Child Protective Services and placed with a caregiver.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc. was founded by Monica Kelsey, who herself was abandoned as an infant. The goal of the Organization is to educate others on the Safe Haven Law and save the lives of innocent babies from abandonment. This is also to protect mothers or parents from being seen and make it easier to let go of their child if they are in a difficult position of taking care of them.
There is also a 24 hour hotline for women to receive counseling and assistance from Safe Haven. Since the start, Safe Haven has referred over 500 women to crisis pregnancy centers, assisted 6 adoption referrals and has had 76 legal Safe Haven surrenders. Since the first box was installed in April of 2016, there have been no dead abandoned infants in the state of Indiana.
Bloomington Fire Chief Jason Moore said that in the past, firefighters would have to personally receive a surrendered child from a parent and that the process was never anonymous also saying, “Every City of Bloomington Fire Station is already a safe place and a designated location where someone could use the Indiana Safe Haven Law to surrender a newborn.”
Since the baby box’s installation, Moore stated, “To know that we may not have to go on another call when there’s a dead infant, [is] going to be really good for our morale and our mental health.”
This Safe Haven baby box will be the 32nd in the United States and the 28th in Indiana. Safe Haven has all locations listed on their website. Among the 28 in Indiana there are also 3 in Ohio, and 1 in Arkansas.
The idea for placing a box in Bloomington specifically was introduced by co-owner of the Funeral Chapel, Eric Powell. In May of 2018, Powell was called in as a Monroe County Coroner to an abandoned apartment in Bloomington where a 26-week-old baby was found dead.
After hearing about the option of Safe Haven baby boxes, Powell and his wife, LeeAnna made efforts to create one in Bloomington. The Powells contacted Monica Kelsey of Safe Haven and Sherwood Oaks Christian Church helped by covering the service fee of $10,000.
Two years later the Powells are happy to announce that Bloomington has a place to safely take in infants if needed.
