An infant was surrendered to a Safe Haven Baby Box at an Indiana fire station, just four months after the box was installed, LifeNews reported Monday.
The surrender occurred in Bloomington Indiana, and it was the fourth in the state this year, according to local media reports. Monroe Fire Protection District Station 25 Chief Jason Allen said a silent alarm alerted the firefighters April 8 that a baby had been placed inside the specially-designed box, and they were able to retrieve the baby 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,” Allen said in a statement. Babies surrendered under the state’s safe haven law are placed into foster care and later adopted, according to the report.
Each Safe Haven Baby Box has a heater, a cooling unit, and alarm-activated, according to founder Monica Kelsey. A silent alarm alerts firefighters if a baby is in the box 60 seconds after the baby is placed inside.
“Sixty seconds is enough time for mom to get away,” Kelsey previously said.
Kelsey, who was abandoned as an infant and later adopted, founded the organization in 2015 to educate and advocate for safe haven laws and baby boxes across the country, according to the report. She said 28 babies have been anonymously and safely surrendered in Indiana since 2017, and more than 100 baby boxes have been installed in communities across the country.
“Women in crisis are trusting the organization that removes shame from a complicated decision to lovingly surrender an infant,” Kelsey’s organization said in a statement.
The report notes that all 50 states have safe haven laws “that allow mothers to safely surrender their newborns to authorities, often at a police station or hospital, without questions or repercussions as long as the infant is unharmed.”
“Typically, laws allow safe surrender within a certain time limit, such as up to 30 days after the baby’s birth,” the report states.