BEECH GROVE, Ind. — Indiana's newest baby box will be dedicated in Beech Grove Friday.
The box at Beech Grove EMS Station 56 at 1202 Albany St. will be the 104th Safe Haven Baby Box installed in Indiana, by far the most of any state.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes are temperature-controlled and sound an alarm when an infant is placed inside, alerting firefighters. Once taken out of the box, the baby is checked by medics and taken to a hospital. Newborns who are surrendered in the boxes are usually adopted in about a month.
Fourteen babies have been safely surrendered this year in the 161 baby boxes nationwide, bringing the total to 35 babies who have been left in the boxes to be cared for since 2017.
In August, a baby surrendered at Carmel Fire Station #345 was the fourth left at that fire station since April 2022. The baby girl was almost immediately placed with a prospective new family.
A new Indiana law streamlines the placement process for surrendered newborns, bypassing the Department of Child Services, custody and foster families. The fire department has a list of adoption agencies to choose from to see the baby gets adopted. The agency vets and picks the parents.
"She has already met with her parents," Safe Haven Baby Boxes founder Monica Kelsey said in the days following the surrender.
Mothers can also call the national hotline at 866-99BABY1 for help in safely surrendering a newborn. Safe Haven Baby Boxes says more than 9,000 calls have been fielded by operators, leading to the surrender of more than 130 babies.
The Beech Grove baby box will be dedicated and blessed during a public event starting at 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 1.