KOSCIUSKO COUNTY, Ind. — Three babies have been safely surrendered in the past 30 days under the Safe Haven Law. One of those cases happened in Kosciusko County.
One of the babies was handed over at a Safe Haven location, and the other two were surrendered at a Safe Haven Baby Box.
Although officials were unable to confirm the exact location or manner by which the babies were surrendered, one of the Safe Haven Baby Boxes in Kosciusko County is located at Fire Station 2 in Turkey Creek Township
"We've decided that we want this here as an alternative. If it gets to the point that there is no other alternatives, we would rather see that child brought here. Whether the child is from our county or another state, it doesn't matter," Chief of Turkey Creek Fire Territory Mickey Scott said.
When a baby is put in one of the temperature-controlled boxes, it locks from the outside. An alarm inside the building then sounds. This lets those inside know that the baby needs to be retrieved. From there, the child is taken to the hospital and DCS is notified.
"If they feel safer doing it this way, then it's okay to do it this way. We just want to make sure that the child gets taken care of because it's a human life that is already here, and it's okay. We understand. We don't ask any questions. We just go from there," Scott said.
The founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes released this statement in response to the recent surrenders:
“We know the Safe Haven Baby Boxes program is working to end infant abandonment and save lives. Our organization has had a record number of surrenders in the last 30 days in a baby box or with the assistance of Safe Haven Baby Boxes National Crisis Hotline. Indiana has also not had a deceased infant from abandonment since we installed the first Safe Haven Baby Box in April 2016.
Officials encourage parents to seek counseling through the Safe Haven Crisis Line if they are considering a surrender.
"We don't really know who the parents are or who the child is...that's not really our concern. We're just trying to make sure this child is taken care of cause Fire and EMS, our job is to save peoples' lives and save peoples' property, so that's really all we are trying to do," Scott said.
For more information about Safe Haven Baby Boxes and their locations, visit their website at shbb.org
