Another newborn safely surrendered in Indiana’s fourth baby box rescue this year

A newborn was safely surrendered in an Indiana Safe Haven Baby Box on April 8. The surrender marks the fourth that has taken place in the state and the sixth nationwide since the start of 2023.

Run by the Safe Haven Baby Box organization, the baby box is a temperature-controlled box equipped with a silent alarm that allows a parent to safely and anonymously surrender their infant under their state’s safe haven laws. The boxes are often placed in firehouses and hospitals so that emergency responders can act as soon as the child is placed inside. The boxes are located in a handful of states around the country in an effort to curtail infant abandonment.

In a news release, battalion chief Jason Allen said that responders retrieved the newborn inside the box in under a minute.

“Firefighters provided basic EMS care and comfort to the baby until paramedics arrived on scene and transported the baby to the hospital for further evaluation,” he said.

According to WSAZ, the box used in the latest surrender was installed in the Monroe Fire Protection District in the city of Bloomington just four months ago. “The Safe Haven Baby Box funding was provided by the Monroe Fire Protection District Volunteers Inc,” explained Allen. “Without their generous donation, this baby box would not have been possible. We are thankful that our department can provide this safe option to people during their time of need.”

“It makes us pretty happy as a whole, to provide something like this the community needs,” he added. “What we do is offer an option. We provide the box, and the immediate care for the baby.”

Safe Haven Baby Box founder Monica Kelsey, who herself was abandoned as an infant, spoke in praise of the parent who surrendered their child.

“I am so thankful this parent chose a safe option for their child. We may never know the reason they used this baby box, but we do know how much they loved their infant,” she said.

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