The white sheet fell away from the side of Franciscan Health Indianapolis, and a new beacon of hope was unveiled.
Hospital staff and officials, local advocates and community supporters crowded around the newly installed Safe Haven Baby Box outside Franciscan’s Center for Mother and Children. The secure drop box allows parents of newborns to relinquish their child to hospital staff anonymously, without fear of arrest or prosecution.
Simply by being available, the box is a victory for life, said Greg Williamson, executive director of the Franciscan Health Foundation, Central Indiana.
“For me, if a baby is surrendered, it will be a joyous occasion. We should celebrate the fact that a young woman had the courage to say, ‘I want the best life for this infant and for my child, and thank God there is a place where I can do it without judgment, without fear, but feel love and safety,” he said.
The new Safe Haven Baby Box was blessed and dedicated during a special ceremony Thursday at Franciscan Health Indianapolis. With its installation, it becomes the 126th Safe Haven box in Indiana, and the first on the southside of Indianapolis.
“It’s so important because of our mission — our respect for life and personal dignity for every human being. We want to treat the vulnerable and the sick in the Franciscan tradition, so this is a major part of our mission,” said Melanie Boosey, manager of labor and delivery at Franciscan Health Indianapolis who helped spearhead the box’s installation.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes is an organization working to prevent the illegal abandonment of newborns through education, raising awareness of the safe haven law, and offering baby boxes, the only anonymous option to relinquish a newborn. Founder Monica Kelsey started Safe Haven Baby Boxes after learning she was abandoned as an infant, and after seeing a baby box in operation at a church in Cape Town, South Africa.
She brought the concept back to the United States and has dedicated her life to helping spread these boxes around the country. Safe Haven Baby Boxes also operates a 24-hour hotline where women in crisis can call and receive counseling and assistance free of charge.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes allow new mothers to take advantage of Indiana’s Safe Haven Law, which enables a person to surrender an infant anonymously without fear of arrest or prosecution. The use of the baby box is a last resort for women who want to maintain complete anonymity.
“Offering mothers in crisis anonymity is crucial to our mission. We are giving these infants a better chance and their mothers a second chance when we are prepared,” Kelsey said in a statement.
To date, the organization has helped install 234 baby boxes across the United States. Two boxes are available in Johnson County — one at Bargersville Fire Department and the other at Franklin Fire Station 22.
The mission of Safe Haven Baby Boxes spoke to Boosey. She knew that Franciscan Health locations in Michigan City, Rensselaer, Lafayette East and Crawfordsville had baby boxes, and wanted to bring them to Indianapolis.
“An idea just sprouted in my head. I’d followed the Safe Haven Baby Boxes for a while, and I realized we didn’t really have one on the southside at the time,” she said. “Other Franciscan hospitals have one, so I knew it was doable, and I thought it would be great to have one in the hospital.”
Boosey reached out to hospital officials and the Franciscan Health Foundation, who backed the effort. A team of supporters throughout the hospital and the community gave their financial support, including a donation by Nanci and Carney Likens that funded the entire baby box and a large portion of the installation, as well. The Indianapolis residents wanted to pay it forward for all the help they have received from the team at Franciscan Health over the years, they said in a statement.
The culmination of those efforts arrived during Thursday’s dedication.
Attendees heard from representatives from Safe Haven Baby Boxes, as well as He Knows Your Name, a ministry aimed at providing dignity for all lives that has worked closely with Safe Haven. Father Vincent Onunkwo, chaplain for Franciscan Health, led the group in prayer, and offered blessing for the new box.
Franciscan Health leadership also spoke, emphasizing the importance of the box in their facility.
“We have an outstanding team here at the Center for Women and Children who will take great care of any baby who is surrendered in the Safe Haven Baby Box,” said Lori Price, president and CEO of Franciscan Health Central Indiana. “With the installation of the box, we hope to reduce infant abandonment deaths.”
The box is located at Entrance Door No. 2 outside the Center for Women and Children. The box is heated and air-conditioned and has its own ventilation. When the box is used, a silent alarm will sound so that staff can immediately tend to the baby.
“We want to thank Franciscan Health in Indianapolis for allowing us to cut a hole in their beautiful hospital, and we want to thank the many people who made it possible to be part of this organization in America — the only one saving babies in boxes and changing the narrative around infant abandonment,” said Jessi Getrost, executive assistant for Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
