Monica Kelsey, (front row, C), founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, speaks Friday about the infant surrendered in the last three weeks to the Turkey Creek Township Fire Department. Pictured (L to R) behind her are Quinn Hunter, EMS chief; Tony Meek, firefighter and paramedic; Matthew Stanley, firefighter and EMT; Mickey Scott, chief; Geoffrey Ellingwood, firefighter and paramedic; John VanderReyden, firefighter and EMT; and Jon Hall, battalion chief. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
Monica Kelsey, (front row, C), founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, speaks Friday about the infant surrendered in the last three weeks to the Turkey Creek Township Fire Department. Pictured (L to R) behind her are Quinn Hunter, EMS chief; Tony Meek, firefighter and paramedic; Matthew Stanley, firefighter and EMT; Mickey Scott, chief; Geoffrey Ellingwood, firefighter and paramedic; John VanderReyden, firefighter and EMT; and Jon Hall, battalion chief. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
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SYRACUSE - Monica Kelsey, founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, knows there’s a lot of negativity on social media regarding parents surrendering their babies in the Baby Boxes at fire departments.

But she’s also aware of the alternatives for the infants.

Friday morning, Kelsey; Turkey Creek Township Fire Department; and Dave Koontz, Right to Life of North Central Indiana director, held a press conference at the fire department’s station 1 in Syracuse on a newborn baby being surrendered within the last three weeks to EMS Chief Quinn Hunter during his shift.

The Baby Box is at station 2, 8138 E. McClintic Road, Syracuse.

“I know that people can be cruel, and even on social media, people can be cruel when they hear a story like this. I want this parent to understand, we know your heart, we hear you. This child was not abandoned,” she said. “Most of you know that my birth mother abandoned me two hours after I was born. This child was not abandoned. This child was legally, lovingly and safely surrendered under Indiana’s Safe Haven Law.”

Beginning the press conference, Kelsey said, “It’s a good day in Syracuse. It is a good day when we don’t find a newborn abandoned illegally in a trash can or dumpster.”

The press conference wasn’t held right away after the baby was surrendered, and the purpose of press conferences is to educate people on the Baby Boxes and that the Boxes are an option for them, she said.

“This is actually the third newborn in Indiana in the last three weeks. So Indiana is leading the way on safe surrenders here in the state of Indiana,” she said.

“It’s got to be one of the hardest things for a parent to say, ‘I want what’s best for my child and it’s not me,’” Kelsey said. “It’s heroic and it’s selfless. We want parents to know that this is an option.”

Three newborns in three weeks is above average, she stated, and Indiana has had five surrenders this year and it’s only mid March. In 2022, there were eight total.

“So you can see we’re way ahead of back where we were last year,” Kelsey said. “I think it’s more about the education getting out there. We’re talking about the Safe Haven Law like never before. We’re leading the country on education and awareness and getting the information out, and I think more people are aware of it.”

Unfortunately, she pointed out, in the last seven days five newborns were found deceased across the U.S. She said these were in locations that don’t have Baby Boxes.

The Safe Haven Law has been around in Indiana since 2001. It allows for a parent who doesn’t want or can’t care for their newborn child to walk into any fire station, police station or hospital to hand their child unharmed - 30 days old or less - over to a firefighter, police officer or nurse and then walk away with no questions asked.

“We also have a last-resort option, which is the Baby Boxes. Syracuse does have a Baby Box. This parent did not choose to utilize the Baby Box, she chose to walk into this facility and that is one of our priorities when we’re talking to a parent,” Kelsey stated.

There is a 24-hour hotline (1-866-99BABY1). On average, it receives two to three calls a day from all over the country, she said. “That is what we call the workhorse of our organization. ... That is when a mother calls us looking for answers and we’re giving her every option available to her, whether it be a parenting plan, whether it be an adoption plan, whether it be her walking into a facility and handing her child to a person. But if she can’t do any of those, then the last option is a Baby Box, and this parent chose to walk into this facility and surrender (the baby),” she said.

While Kelsey said she would not identify the gender of the infant or the day in which it was surrendered, she did say it was a healthy newborn and 30 days old or younger.

Turkey Creek Fire Chief Mickey Scott said, “We’re proud to be here in these folks’ time of need. We know that it’s not an easy decision to make to surrender a child like this, but in a case where that is the option that is chosen, we’re proud to be here for her to have that choice.”

He said they follow the Indiana Safe Haven Law as far as care and transport any surrendered infant to a hospital for evaluation. Department of Child Services is contacted.

Koontz said Right to Life of North Central Indiana made the funding of Safe Haven Baby Boxes and promoting the hotline number on billboards a priority five years ago “because we wanted to make sure that women knew that this opportunity was available, to be able to surrender their child safely and anonymously.”

The billboards promoting the Safe Haven hotline number are up in eight counties and financially supported by donors.

“I want to thank Monica and Safe Haven Baby Boxes and Chief Scott and the Syracuse Fire Department for allowing us to partner with all of them to make this a reality. We just appreciate the opportunity to serve the community in this way, help mothers that are in a crisis situation and save babies,” Koontz concluded.

To the parent who surrendered the infant in Syracuse recently, Kelsey said, “I want to say thank you. Thank you for keeping your child safe. Thank you for doing what you felt was best for your child, and thank you for bringing your child to a place where you knew that this child could be taken care of.”

She said there are resources available to the parent. All they have to do is contact the Safe Haven hotline at 1-866-99BABY1.

“This is for any parent, not just this parent. If any parent is feeling like they need to know resources, the need to know what’s available to them, they can call us 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Kelsey said.

She said the Turkey Creek Fire Department handled the parent surrendering their infant over with “such respect, such dignity and followed protocols flawlessly to ensure the safety of this infant.”

Hunter said Syracuse’s Baby Box was the 10th in the state and 13th in the nation.

“We were one of the original ones. Quick math, it’s about 185 weekly tests that we’ve done on that Baby Box without any sort of action in it. It’s a group effort from everybody. No one person makes the program successful,” he said. “I’m really appreciative of the parent who made the appropriate choice in this situation. Throughout the past week, I think every news outlet every day, you’ve seen something about abandonment somewhere in the country. People need to know that these resources are out there for them to be able to have another option.”

He said he’s also grateful they have that opportunity in Syracuse.

Babies that are surrendered go into the foster-to-adopt program in Indiana, currently, Kelsey said. They’re placed in foster care for about 30 days before being placed with their “forever families.” Kelsey mentioned a bill at the Statehouse right now - Senate Bill 345 - that will take babies out of DCS custody and put them immediately into an adoptive family.

If a baby surrendered has been abused, that “automatically kicks out Safe Haven because babies that are surrendered legally under Indiana Safe Haven Law have to be unharmed, otherwise, we look for parents. So if a child is brought here that is clearly abused - a broken arm, whatever - we are going to look for these parents. ... But if a parent brings a child here that’s abused, this parent should be prosecuted. We don’t want these kids abused, but we’ve never had a child brought to us that was abused. These parents love these kids, they just want something more for them.”