FORTVILLE — A box is tucked inside a wall at the Vernon Township Fire Station in Fortville that’s never been opened, but the fire chief wants people to know it’s there.
The compartment is known as a Safe Haven Baby Box, where babies less than 30 days old can safely be dropped off, no questions asked.
April is Safe Haven Awareness Month, a time when advocates push to make people aware of the Safe Haven laws in various states that allow parents to drop off newborns in a safe place, without fear of judgment or persecution.
The Baby Boxes are designed to make surrendering a baby completely anonymous.
Although no one has used the Baby Box at the Vernon Township station since it was installed in 2019, fire chief Chad Abel is happy to provide the option in his community.
“I feel very fortunate to be part of an organization that people trust so much that they would consider leaving their baby here,” he said.
There are currently 60 Safe Haven Baby Boxes in multiple states throughout the country, in addition to six baby drawers in Arizona.
The boxes are padded and climate-controlled, and will issue a silent alarm to notify public safety officials if it has been used. Baby Boxes can only be placed at buildings that are manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The boxes were designed by Monica Kelsey, a Fort Wayne-area woman and former firefighter, who at age 37 learned she had been abandoned as an infant.
Kelsey has since made it her life’s work to help young moms find safe alternatives for surrendering their babies when they don’t know what else to do.
“In Indiana we’ve had 10 babies in our boxes since November 2017. To those 10 babies that’s everything, because we don’t know where they would have ended up — in a Dumpster, a trash can — we don’t know where they would have ended up if these boxes weren’t here,” she said.
As a mother of three, Kelsey can’t imagine that any parent wants to see harm come to their baby, no matter the situation.
“We were finding two to three dead babies in our state every year, and since launching (Baby Boxes) we’ve had zero dead babies found in our state,” Kelsey said.
“You look back and think, ‘What changed?’, and the answer is we gave women the option of anonymity. They don’t feel judged (by surrendering their baby), and they can keep their child safe,” she said.
Kelsey said some parents have left notes with the babies that have been surrendered in Safe Haven Baby Boxes, saying how much they love them and wish they could raise them, but that they wanted a better life for them.
“It’s pretty selfless,” Kelsey said. “I have nothing but respect for these moms (who surrender newborns), because they basically put the wants and needs of their child ahead of their own.”
She and others at her nonprofit are able to maintain relationships with some of the babies who have been left in Baby Boxes and adopted.
“It really warms my heart to be able to not only walk alongside the moms who choose to surrender their babies, but also these children who are just so blessed,” she said.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes is based in Woodburn in Allen County, where Kelsey lives. The staff fields about two calls a day from young parents desperate for direction.
Not all of those parents surrender their babies in Baby Boxes, said Kelsey, who has helped moms review their options, and has helped many surrender their babies at hospitals, police stations and other safe locations.
No matter what, she wants young moms to know that they have a choice.
“We don’t shame. We don’t judge. We will walk alongside any mom that chooses to keep her child safe,” Kelsey said.
“We’ve helped 98 women surrender babies at locations where there were no boxes. If you give the mom or dad a good option, they’ll choose it,” she said, “but they need to know about the (Safe Haven) law prior to the crisis.”
Over time, Kelsey has learned that young parents are more likely to drop off their baby somewhere safe if they can do so anonymously, rather than coming face to face with the person or people they’re leaving their child with.
“I wanted to give them the option of 100 percent anonymity, and the Baby Boxes do that,” she said.
Kelsey is thankful that Safe Haven Awareness Month helps draw attention to Safe Haven laws in multiple states nationwide. She and others at her foundation go into schools and colleges to share the story of Safe Haven laws and Baby Boxes.
This month also marks the anniversary of the day the first Baby Box was installed at the Woodburn City Fire Department, where Kelsey previously worked as a firefighter and a medic.
She retired a few years ago to lead Safe Haven Baby Boxes full time, and sold her Baby Box patent to the organization for $1 so she’d never profit from the design.
Kelsey will soon be releasing a book about how being surrendered as an infant led to her founding the organization.
She learned that she had been abandoned when she got to meet her birth mom for the first time 10 years ago. That was the day she learned that her mother had been raped, and had abandoned Kelsey after giving birth.
“I was 37, and that became the best and worst day of my life,” Kelsey recalled. “I got to meet her, but I also learned the circumstances of my birth, which was devastating.”
Now about to turn 48, Kelsey finds her purpose in spreading the word about Safe Haven laws and the Baby Boxes she designed.
Abel is thankful to have such a box in Fortville, and said it’s tested monthly to make sure it’s functioning properly.
“If somebody does put a baby in that box, there’s enough of a delay for them to leave, but very quickly that goes to our alarm company,” Abel explained.
“We have a call list to send someone out there immediately, and we also dispatch law enforcement and paramedics to care for that infant immediately,” he said.
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April is Safe Haven Awareness Month, drawing attention to Safe Haven laws, which allow parents to surrender babies free of persecution.
As long as there are no signs of intentional abuse, no information is required of the person leaving the baby. Any knowledge of the date of birth, race, parent medical history, child’s health or anything that would be useful to the child’s caregiver is appreciated.
A Safe Haven Baby Box is in Fortville at the Vernon Township fire station: 600 Vitality Drive
Other nearby boxes:
New Castle Fire Department, 229 N. Main St., New Castle
Shelbyville Fire Department, 40 W. Broadway St., Shelbyville
For more information about Safe Haven laws and locations, or to speak to a licensed counselor, call the National Safe Haven hotline at 1-866-99BABY1 or visit shbb.org.
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