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              Baby Box Offers 'Safe Haven' for Abandoned Newborns

   by Erika Celeste

   About 150 babies in the United States are abandoned each year in
   creeks, along roadsides and in trash cans, according to child
   advocates.

   One such baby was a newborn girl, found off a snowy trail in an
   Indianapolis, Indiana, park.

   Linda Znachko, whose ministry buries abandoned infants, named the baby
   Amelia Grace Hope. She believes Amelia didn't have to die.
   That's because there was a Safe Haven location not far from where
   Amelia was found.

   A safe space for unwanted infants

   Since 2008, legal guardians throughout the United States have been
   allowed to surrender infants 45 days or younger to any emergency
   medical service provider, without fear of prosecution.The policy has
   been the law in Indiana since 2000.

   The law was passed for mothers like Amelia's, who, Znachko says,
   "didn't want to be identified."

   "If that mother, maybe an under-resourced, desperate mom, who was
   terribly afraid, would have been able to find her way just two miles
   down the road, she may have been able to surrender that baby and that
   baby could be alive today."

   Monica Kelsey, who was herself abandoned as an infant and now works as
   a firefighter, felt she had to do something.

   She found the answer while visiting a South African church, which had a
   baby safe.

   The metal boxes, with padded interiors, have a climate-controlled
   thermostat that adjusts the temperature inside according to the weather
   outside. When a baby is placed in the box, it triggers an infrared beam
   and a series of silent alarms, which notify emergency personnel within
   a minute.

   So Kelsey created Safe Haven Baby Boxes in the U.S.

   Kelsey had met Znacho because of Amelia's case, so they worked together
   to lobby the state legislature to amend the Safe Haven law to protect
   people who use the boxes, as well as those dropping infants off in
   person.

   In memory of one lost child, Amelia become a small but important part
   of the program: her footprint was used in the organization's logo.

   Changing laws to protect babies

   Initially, the Indiana State Department of Health opposed the plan.

   In a report, it cautioned against using a system with no standards or
   protocols.

   "I offered them the reality that I have seen the autopsy results of the
   conditions of these babies when they are found.It's so tragic.It's so
   hard to read -- that even if a baby were to die in the baby box, it
   would be an attempted rescue on their life."

   [1]Safe Haven Baby Boxes strengthened its program by adding an
   automatic lock to the outside of the boxes so that only emergency
   personnel could remove the newborns from the interior door.

   The legislature unanimously amended the law.

   Kelsey's husband, Joe Kelsey, approved the first box installation in
   April at the local fire station in Woodburn, Indiana, where he serves
   as mayor.

   "I'm very proud that Woodburn is the first city to have Safe Haven Baby
   Boxes, and if one life is saved during the whole term that I'm mayor,
   it will be the best thing," Kelsey said.

   The Knights of Columbus fraternal organization paid for the first 100
   boxes, which cost about $2,000 each.

   Monica Kelsey receives dozens of emails a day from people all over the
   country asking for a box in their city. The next three locations have
   already been selected, for high-abandonment areas in Indiana.

   Kelsey says her initial goal is to save "10 percent of these babies
   that are being abandoned," by convincing people to put them in boxes;
   but, that's just "where we're going to start," she says."I think
   through the years, though, that number is going to grow. And
   eventually, hopefully, save 100 percent of the babies that are being
   illegally abandoned."
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   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/baby-box-offers-safe-haven-for-abando
   ned-newborns/3345260.html

References

   1. http://www.safehavenbabyboxes.com/
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/baby-box-offers-safe-haven-for-abandoned-newborns/3345260.html