Safe surrender: Bargersville Fire ‘blesses’ new baby box for mothers in need

Months of work paid off Monday as the Bargersville community came together to bless a new baby box.

Bargersville Community Fire Department Station 201 is now the site of Johnson County’s third Safe Haven Baby Box. Located at the station on State Road 135, the box is a safe and secure way for parents to surrender babies they feel they cannot care for.

Dozens of community members gathered at the station Monday afternoon to hold a blessing ceremony for the new box. Including Bargersville, there are now 202 baby boxes in the nation and 114 in Indiana.

“It’s a very important day for us here in the department, community and generally, not just the community in Bargersville but for the county,” said Mike Pruitt, Bargersville Fire deputy chief. “Because the resource that you see right up in here is something that is not just [for] the community. This is county-wide, this is something that’s here for Central Indiana to use.”

How it works

Under Indiana law, parents may surrender a child at any baby box anonymously and without fear of prosecution as long as the baby is under 1 month old. A parent may not regain custody once they surrender the child.

To use the box, parents pull a lever on the outside, which opens the box. They then put the infant in the bassinet inside the box and close the lid. The box has a light source and is temperature controlled, so an infant is safe and comfortable in any weather condition until firefighters can rescue it.

Parents may also call the Safe Haven hotline at 866-99BABY1, but they are not required to do so under state law.

When the parent closes the lid on the box, they have about 60 seconds to leave the area before an alarm goes off alerting local authorities that a child has been surrendered. Once the lid is closed, the child is considered abandoned. When firefighters open the box, the child is then taken to a nearby hospital for a medical check-up and then placed in the custody of the Indiana Department of Child Services.

Bargersville’s efforts

Bargersville Fire officials have been working on getting the Safe Haven box for about six months, securing some funding assistance from the Johnson County Health Department. The box was installed at the end of December.

During Monday’s blessing ceremony, Deputy Fire Chief Mike Pruitt thanked county officials, the Bargersville Fire Protection District Board and department employees for their help putting getting the project to this point. He also thanked 1-800-BOARDUP for installing the box.

Pruitt also recounted his own experience with Indiana’s Safe Haven law while working with the Wayne Township Fire Department on Indianapolis’ west side. In 2014, a person dropped off a baby in a trash can across the street from the fire station. Although there was a lot of finger-pointing as to how it happened, he felt the mother’s decision came back to a lack of education on the options, he said.

The baby survived, and Wayne Township has since added several baby boxes. At Bargersville, one of his goals has been to see Johnson County do something similar, he said.

“God forbid we ever have to use this, but we know, in reality, there are hard choices being made out there in life. … We give lots of options to our community and support our community with fire trucks, EMS, and so this is a no-brainer for us that we put this box in place to give people options,” Pruitt said.

Continuing need

Safe Haven Baby Boxes has had 42 babies surrendered in baby boxes since founder Monica Kelsey began the operation in 2016, said Mariah Betz, assistant project coordinator.

In 2023, a record 17 babies were surrendered via baby boxes nationwide. So far this year, there have been four surrenders, according to Safe Haven.

“Thank you to the Bargersville Fire Department for giving families another option to safely surrender their newborn,” Betz said.

No surrenders have taken place in Johnson County yet, Pruitt said.

Linda Znachko, the founder of the He Knows Your Name Ministry, became involved with Safe Haven after meeting Kelsey at a funeral in 2015. The previous December, a baby was found dead in Eagle Creek Park. There was a fire station two miles away and it was clear the infant’s mother did not know of her options to surrender the baby safely, Znachko said.

Znachko felt it would be her job to carry the legacy of the baby, named Amelia, forward. The baby was named Amelia after the clothing she was found in, a Vincennes University Aviation sweatshirt. After an outpouring of community support, Znachko met Kelsey at Amelia’s funeral, and that’s when Kelsey asked her if she wanted to help change Indiana’s Safe Haven law. Znachko said yes, and their effort was successful.

“You want to know something that’s absolutely remarkable? You are sitting in the state of Indiana. No one else in the country can say this, but we have not had a deceased baby found in the state of Indiana in nine years,” she said. “Baby Amelia was the last baby.”

Znachko placed a stone with Amelia’s name and footprint outside Bargersville’s baby box. She did this because she wants every mother who walks up to the box to use it to see the footprint and feel encouraged that they are not alone. Amelia’s legacy is her footprint, which says she was alive and every life matters, Znachko said.

“Every hero mother who chooses to safely and anonymously surrender her babies in one of those boxes under the Safe Haven Law has been a hero. Would you agree?” she said. “She’s a hero because she, with courage in her most desperate place, is scared, I’m sure feeling alone, and she’s choosing to give her baby a future, an education, a family.

“I like to say that the Safe Haven Baby Box is a birthday party waiting to happen. This is going to be the best 911 call this station ever gets if and when that happens,” Znachko added.

BABY BOX LOCATIONS

Here’s a look at where Safe Haven Baby Boxes are located in Johnson County:

• Bargersville Fire Station 201, 3991 N. State Road 135, Franklin
• Franklin Fire Station 22, 1800 Thornburg Lane, Franklin
• White River Township Fire Station 53, 366 N. Morgantown Road, Greenwood.

Other locations can be found at shbb.org/location.