WOODBURN, Ind. (WOWO):A program designed to save infants at extreme risk of abandonment without incriminating the parent or guardian is coming to Coolspring Township near Michigan City Thursday.
The Coolspring Township Volunteer Fire Department will unveil a recently installed “Safe Haven Baby Box.” It’s the second such box in the entire country.
The box is designed to save abandoned babies at fire stations that aren’t manned around the clock. It’s designed to allow a mother or father in distress the opportunity to surrender an unharmed infant in a secure place. When a baby is placed in the Safe Haven box it notifies emergency personnel who come and rescue it.
Monica Kelsey, a volunteer firefighter from Woodburn, Indiana and the founder of the Safe Haven Baby Box, will address the ribbon cutting ceremony. Kelsey herself was abandoned as an infant.
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IN PLANS TO SPEND $250K ON A 1% SOLUTION TO NEWBORN ABANDONMENTS WHEN MA SPENT 0$ AND HAS A 90+% DROP IN ABANDONMENTS!!! WOW!!
As the first “baby box” is unveiled in Indiana — in Woodburn — the group pushing their concept has again shrouded their work with disinformation and controversy.
First it was a total lack of information about the concept, other than the emotional pitch that it “could save one life!” They NEVER told anyone about the successes of states like Massachusetts and our 90+% drop in abandonments!!
When looked into with depth the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette found the reason behind the concept, and editorialized against the concept for the proven Baby Safe Haven law awareness program used in Massachusetts. Fort Wayne is the home region of the “baby boxes” advocate. They would know her best.
Editorial: http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/editorials/Outside-the-box-10156099
When these implements have their roll-out there are too many unanswered questions that have to be posed to the proponents ahead of any possible usage.
1, Have they been tested and approved by any independent testing laboratories. Babies should never go into or on to anything that doesn’t have a “UL Listed” type of status. That means an independent testing lab approved their usage for babies. They have 120 volts associated with them, in a metal container, that is half-way exposed to the elements. And they are not tested independently?
2, If they are placed on a public building, which they will be, does that town/city/township have the proper insurance coverage for this implement. And if these “boxes” are not safety approved by anyone does the insurer know that? We’ve been told by cities and towns in our state that they would have their insurance rescinded if they did such a thing.
3, If these “baby boxes” are installed in such remote areas, such as Woodburn, how are they expected to have any effect on the terrible numbers of abandonments in Indiana? Are they expecting young women to be counseled into using one by a pregnancy crisis group they are associated with? Other then that kind of referral it would be a lottery pick odds for anyone to utilize one of these “boxes.” (And don’t think we didn’t get this kind of scrutiny when we passed baby safe haven laws ten to fifteen years ago. Opponents claimed we would steer young women to them from such pregnancy crisis centers. Data proved them wrong. That same data shows the impossibility of these remote “boxes.”)