Local News
Bargersville to bless new Safe Haven Baby Box
By 
Part-time reporter
Indianapolis, Indiana – On Monday in Bargersville, the 202nd baby box nationwide and the 114th in Indiana will be blessed.
The community will be introduced to the new Safe Haven Baby Box at the event, which is scheduled to take place at the Bargersville Fire Department Headquarters.
The Safe Haven Law in Indiana makes the box possible as a safety device. A person in crisis may legally give up their child in secret without worrying about being detained or prosecuted.
The boxes are mounted on an external wall of a hospital or fire station. It features an internal door that permits medical personnel to remove the newborn and an external door that locks automatically when a baby is placed within.
As per the Safe Haven organization, four infants have been turned in using a Safe Haven Baby Box in 2024.
Families that enroll their children in foster care to adopt them frequently adopt within 30 to 45 days of the placement.
An infant who had been turned in at a Carmel fire station in December 2023 in a Safe Haven Box was taken in by her permanent family. She was thought to be the first child adopted under the recently amended Safe Haven Law in Indiana.
Monday at 1 p.m., the ceremony will take place at the Bargersville Fire Department Headquarters, Station 210 located at 3991 N. State Rd 135 in Franklin.
In a press release, the Safe Haven group said, “The organization fights tirelessly to protect women in crisis and their infants in a mission to end infant abandonment. A key aspect of this mission is the Safe Haven Baby Box which allows for the legal safe surrender of a baby with complete anonymity.”
There are currently baby boxes available in the following states: Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, West Virginia, and Mississippi.
You can reach a certified counselor or anybody in need of assistance in locating a baby box by calling the National Safe Haven crisis hotline at 1-866-99BABY1.
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