Nena Arias | February 6, 2020
The title of an article posted by Bridget Sielicki on www.liveaction.org January 27, 2020, caught my attention because it says, Months after student raised funds to install Indiana baby box, it saved a baby girl’s life. Being a pro-life advocate, I was interested to know what this was all about especially with the pro-life momentum that is clearly on the rise. What is a baby box that can save lives?
The article goes on to explain how it works:
A newborn girl was saved after she was safely surrendered in a Safe Haven baby box in Seymour, Indiana, on Thursday. The girl’s rescue, the first at this location, comes less than a year after the box was installed. The surrender was the fifth time that a baby has been placed into a baby box in Indiana in the last two years.
The rescue happened at 1:30 pm at Seymour Fire Station 3. According to Fire Chief Brad Lucas, an alarm sounded as soon as the mother opened the box, and the baby was retrieved less than 60 seconds later. She was transported to a local hospital.
“The system worked perfectly,” Lucas said. “We had firefighters in the building, and the ambulance was on scene within minutes. The baby was transferred to the hospital and is doing great. We are proud to have this resource available for the residents of Seymour. We strive every day to ensure the safety of our residents, and this is just a way to ensure the safety of newborns.”
Wow! What a great idea to provide mothers of an unwanted baby to surrender them where they can be lovingly cared for. We know life can be very hard when a baby comes into the world in a less than optimal situation, and the last thing we want is for that precious baby to be aborted. It is not enough to tell expectant mothers of an unplanned pregnancy not to abort. We must also provide all the support we can including taking in that baby and putting the baby up for adoption to a loving home who is desirous to have a baby to care for and give the baby a forever home.
The article continues:
The successful surrender was made possible thanks to Indiana’s Safe Haven laws, which state that a newborn less than 30 days old can be surrendered to an emergency care facility, police station, fire station, or hospital, with no questions asked. Baby boxes are specially designed to make this surrender easy for parents, offering safe, climate-controlled places where parents can leave their children anonymously. As soon as a child is placed in the box, an alarm sounds and emergency personnel are immediately alerted to the baby’s presence.
Seymour’s baby box was installed in June 2019, thanks to the efforts of high school senior Hunter Wart, 19, who raised $10,000 for the box’s installation. According to CNN, Wart “spent more than a year mowing lawns and scrapping metal to raise the $10,000 needed to purchase a Safe Haven Baby Box for the Seymour Fire Department… as part of his senior project.”
The Seymour box is just one of 20 boxes throughout the state placed by the non-profit organization Safe Haven Baby Boxes, started by resident Monica Kelsey. Kelsey herself was abandoned as an infant.
According to Kelsey, the baby is now in the custody of the Indiana Department of Child Services and she’ll be placed with an adoptive family sometime in the next 45 days.
This wonderful and selfless effort of Hunter Wart gives us much hope for a better future that not all of the young people are swept up in this “me generation” and Hunter is a great example when he demonstrated this in such an awesome way.
I know it must break your heart like it breaks mine when I hear of a baby abandoned in a dumpster, trash can or open field to die alone. This project is a wonderful and heart-warming alternative to save precious lives. God bless this organization.
The Safe Haven Baby Box organization also has a national hotline for women in crisis. To reach them, call 1-866-99BABY1.