Anonymous Baby Drop-Off Boxes Installed in Indiana for Unwanted Newborns

The Safe Haven Baby Box at the Woodburn, Ind., Volunteer Fire Department, is temperature-controlled and sounds an alarm when the door is opened. The baby box allows mothers to drop off unwanted newborns anonymously with emergency help moments away. The padded, climate-controlled container was dedicated Tuesday, April 26, 2016, at the Woodburn Volunteer Fire Department Chad Ryan/The Journal Gazette via AP

The first two Safe Haven Baby Boxes in the country have been installed in Indiana.

The Safe Haven Baby Box gives unwilling mothers the option to drop off their unwanted infants anonymously.

It’s creator, Monica Kelsey of Woodburn, Indiana, dedicated the first baby drop-off box attached to the inside of the firehouse Woodburn Volunteer Fire Department on April 19; The second baby box, was installed Thursday in Michigan City.

To have the non-profit boxes approved and installed in other states, each would have to go through its own state’s legislation.

According to AP, the drop-off box, is padded inside and it’s also temperature-controlled. 

In addition, it is electronically monitored and has a medical-warming device that keeps each box between 95 degrees and 100 degrees all year, according to KFOR.

Kelsey, who now serves as a firefighter with the Woodburn Volunteer Fire Department in Indiana, was abandoned as a newborn on April 19th, 1973, and the first Safe Haven Baby Box was installed on her birthday, April 19.

Monica Kelsey and the town of Woodburn, Ind., dedicated the first Safe Haven Baby Box of its kind on Tuesday, April 26, 2016, at the Woodburn Volunteer Fire Department. The box, which is temperature controlled and has a padded inside, is electronically monitored and sounds an alarm with the fire station whenever the door is opened. Chad Ryan/The Journal Gazette via AP