Baby Girl Left In Safe Haven Baby Box In Kokomo
Monica Kelsey, founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, is shown speaking to the Warsaw City Council in 2019 when the council voted in favor of installing a baby box at the fire station. Throughout Indiana there are more than 100 Safe Haven Baby Boxes. A baby was surrendered in a box in Kokomo on Monday. InkFreeNews file photo.
Staff Report
KOKOMO — A newborn girl was surrendered in a Safe Haven Baby Box at a fire station in Kokomo on Monday, July 17.
Firefighters and paramedics were immediately alerted by a silent alarm system on the temperature-controlled box and able to take care of the infant, central Indiana media reported.
The baby was the fifth infant surrendered in Indiana this year, according to reports.
“Although these are hard choices to make, we applaud the mother for giving her daughter the chance at life through an anonymous, safe and legal option,” Kokomo Fire Chief Chris Frazier said, in part, in a news release.
The baby box was installed at the Kokomo fire station in June 2020.
Monica Kelsey, founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, spoke at a news conference in Kokomo Tuesday, July 18, about the surrender. She said the system worked “flawlessly.”
The Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization’s primary goal is to raise awareness of the Safe Haven Law, which enables a mother in crisis to safely and anonymously surrender her newborn.
Since April 2016, when the first box was installed, there have been no dead abandoned infants in the state of Indiana, according to information on the Safe Haven Baby Boxes website.
Across Indiana, there are more than 100 Safe Haven Baby Boxes, including in Kosciusko and other area counties. The Safe Haven Baby Boxes website lists boxes at the Warsaw Fire Station No. 2, 2204 E. Center St., Warsaw; Turkey Creek Fire Territory Station No. 2, 8138 E. McClintic Road, Syracuse; Ligonier Fire Station, 100 N. Cavin St., Ligonier; the Rochester Fire Department, 2006 E. SR 14, Rochester; the Plymouth Fire Department, 111 N. Center St., Plymouth; and the Wabash Fire Department Training Center, 1000 N. Wabash St., Wabash.