Muncie will soon be the latest city to have a Safe Haven Baby Box, where people can safely and anonymously drop off unwanted infants.  IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann explains.

Two northern Indiana fire stations received some of the first baby boxes in the US in 2016, even before the state legislature approved of their use to allow parents to give up unwanted babies anonymously.

On Monday, a Safe Haven baby box will be installed on an outside wall of Muncie’s fire station #1 in the downtown area.  Company founder Monica Kelsey, who was abandoned as a baby, says the boxes are heated to keep the baby warm and wired to call for help immediately.

“Before the child is even placed in the box, we’re initiating fire and medical to come to this location.”

Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour says a“wall-breaking ceremony” prepared the building for the baby box on Thursday.  Boxes typically cost about $10,000 to install.

The first baby surrendered to a box in Indiana came in November of 2017.  The Indiana Department of Health says more than 50 babies have been surrendered since a 2008 law made it legal to do so, but the state doesn’t differentiate between in-person and baby box surrenders.  No abandoned baby has been found dead in the state since 2015.