Firefighters find healthy newborn inside Monroe County's Safe Haven Baby Box
The evening of April 8, firefighters at Monroe Fire Protection District's station on North Old Ind. 37 noticed a silent alarm. Not a fire alarm, but one indicating an infant had been placed inside the Safe Haven Baby Box installed there in December.
They were "notified of the surrendering by the alarms going off as expected when a baby is surrendered using the box," battalion chief Jason Allen wrote in a news release. They retrieved the newborn, who was in the box less than a minute, and checked the baby's vital signs.
"Firefighters provided basic EMS care and comfort to the baby until paramedics arrived on scene and transported the baby to the hospital for further evaluation," the release said.
According to the Safe Haven Baby Boxes organization, this was the fourth baby placed in one of the boxes in Indiana this year. Since 2017, 28 babies have been anonymously and safely surrendered in the state.
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No details about this most recent infant were available Friday.
"Women in crisis are trusting the organization that removes shame from a complicated decision to lovingly surrender an infant," a Safe Haven news release said.
The baby box at Monroe Fire District Station 25 was funded by donations collected by Monroe Fire Protection District volunteers. They held a blessing ceremony on Dec. 15 when the box became operational.
The baby boxes are temperature-controlled, with two doors, one on the outside of the building and another accessible from inside. Silent alarms that notify first responders are triggered when the outside door is opened, when the baby is placed inside and when the door is closed and locks automatically.
Indiana's 2017 Safe Haven law allows the anonymous surrender of a baby 30 days or younger without threat of prosecution of the mother. The law says infants can be left at fire departments, hospitals and emergency medical stations.
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Allen said the department is proud and thankful to be able sponsor and maintain the baby box. "It makes us pretty happy as a whole, to provide something like this the community needs," he said Friday.
"What we do is offer an option. We provide the box, and the immediate care for the baby."
This is the only Safe Haven baby box in Monroe County. There are several others in the area: at the Owen County EMS station in Spencer, the downtown Martinsville fire department and the Bedford Fire Department on H Street.
A list of all locations is at: https://shbb.org/locations.
Infants left in a secure and alarmed baby box are placed for adoption through the state Department of Child Services.
Contact Herald-Times reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-331-4362.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Newborn found safe in Monroe County fire district baby box
