First baby box surrender of 2024 confirmed in Indiana

GEORGETOWN, Ind. (WAVE) – The first baby box surrender of 2024 was made last week in southern Indiana.

Safe Haven Baby Box said it occurred at the Georgetown Township Fire Station #1.

This was the first child left at the fire station since the baby box made available in December of 2022.

At today’s press conference, the founder of Safe Haven Baby Box and the Georgetown fire chief wanted to speak directly to the mother of the child and thank her.

Monica Kelsey, founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, said, “First, I’m going to start by talking to the parent who came up to this box last week and surrendered their healthy newborn. Thank you. Thank you for keeping your child safe. Thank you for entrusting the Georgetown Fire Department and Safe Haven Baby Boxes to take it from here. I know your heart has to be breaking right now. I know this is not without pain.”

Kelsey wanted to assure the mother that her baby is safe, healthy and taken care of by staff.

She said the fire department removed the baby from the box within two minutes and that the baby immediately received care.

Georgetown Fire Department chief Bill Banta said, “I do too, want to thank the individual or individuals who placed the baby into our care. Your faith in us is not underappreciated. I’m proud that we were able to offer this to you. You get emotional, if I can… because I know for a fact how tough it is to be a single parent. I was one. I understand. I understand the struggles. I had a great support system. The person that did this, last week, did the right thing and need to be applauded. Again, if you are seeing this, Thank you for trusting us.”

For more, you can visit Safe Haven’s website at shbb.org/crisis or call or text 1-866-99BABY1.

There are Safe Haven Baby Box locations across 15 states, including Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

Since 2017, there have been 39 infants placed in a baby box.