NEW HAVEN — A healthy newborn baby girl was safely surrendered in a Safe Haven Baby Box in New Haven on Wednesday morning.
The infant was immediately recovered from the box and transported to a local hospital.
The box at the Fire Station in New Haven was the last one to be dedicated in 2019 on December 31, that's just 51 days ago.
READ | Indiana's Safe Haven Baby Boxes are saving - and changing - lives
“We are proud to have this resource available for the residents of New Haven, Indiana,” said Fire Chief Josh Hale. “It is our ongoing goal everyday to ensure the safety of all of our residents, and today we were able to ensure the safety of one of our newest residents.”
The New Haven newborn will be released from the hospital and placed in the custody of the Department of Child Services where the safe haven surrender process will begin.
“I want to personally thank this brave mother that carried her child to term, kept her safe, and then exercised her rights under Indiana’s safe haven law and surrendered her newborn in our box. This newborn is healthy and perfect.”, said Monica Kelsey, Founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
The New Haven newborn is the sixth infant to be safely surrendered inside a Safe Haven Baby Box in the past two years in Indiana and the fourth to be surrendered safely in the past 161 days, according to Safe Haven Baby Boxes. SHBB has also helped 70 women and infants with safe surrenders, assisted with 6 adoption plans and referred hundreds to pregnancy crisis centers around the country.
READ | Meet Grace, one of Indiana's Safe Haven Baby Box babies
Baby boxes are safe incubators that have alarm systems, so 911 is notified as soon as a baby is placed inside. The baby boxes also have heating and cooling features.
Indiana's Safe Haven law allows people to anonymously surrender their healthy infants at any fire station in the state without fear of criminal prosecution.
The Safe Haven Baby Box organization also staffs a 24-hour hotline (1-866-99BABY1), so parents can talk to trained professionals about possibly surrendering their baby. You can also visit the Safe Haven Baby Box website for more information including locations.
Five babies have been surrendered inside Safe Haven Baby Boxes since the first was installed in 2016. Two other babies have been surrendered at fire stations with Safe Haven Baby Boxes. Nationwide, 60 surrenders have resulted from calls to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes national hotline and 7 of those surrenders in 2019.
