'Celebrating life in Mooresville': Infant surrendered at Mooresville Safe Haven Baby Box

MOORESVILLE — A baby girl was recently surrendered at Mooresville's Safe Haven Baby Box at the town's fire station along State Road 144.

The baby box was installed in September 2020 and at the time was the country's 39th box installed by Safe Haven Baby Boxes, an organization founded by Monica Kelsey.

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There are now more than 100 baby boxes throughout the country, including a second in Morgan County located at the Martinsville Fire Department.

The surrender in Mooresville marks the 20th time a baby has been placed into a box in Indiana since units started bing installed throughout the state.

According to Mooresville Fire Chief Matt Dalton, the recent surrender is the first time the box has been used since it became operational nearly two years ago.

"We were notified and our crews came to the response for that alert," Dalton said. "We did have a baby placed in our Safe Haven Baby Box."

The fire chief noted the baby box is a tool for the department to be able to keep the residents of the town safe.

"I'm happy to say that we do have a young baby girl that is healthy and doing well in hospital care right now," Dalton noted.

Kelsey celebrated the news that the box was recently used in Mooresville.

"We're celebrating life in Mooresville," Kelsey said. "How do you beat that?"

As of Friday, July 1, there are 111 boxes throughout the nation with Kelsey noting she was getting ready to "bless" her 112th box.

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"Thank you for partnering with us and giving women of this community an option that allows anonymity that they didn't get before," Kelsey added.

She added that the baby girl was the 20th baby saved in a Safe Haven box since November 2017.

"We always hoped that (this) wouldn't happen," Kelsey noted. "But, we're thankful we didn't find a baby in a dumpster or a trash can."

She said she was herself abandoned as an infant by her biological mother in April 1973.

"So, I stand on the frontlines of this movement ensuring that every woman has a safe, alternative option that is loving and legal and allows a child's life to go on," Kelsey said. "This baby that was surrendered this week was not abandoned. I was abandoned. This child that was left here in the Safe Haven Baby Box was lovingly, legally and anonymously surrendered here. And we honor (the biological parent's) choice."

From the time the baby was placed into the box until firefighters responded was around one minute.

"This program worked flawlessly," Kelsey said. "So we want this mother to know today, your baby is healthy, your baby is safe and we got it from here."

State Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, also spoke Friday afternoon.

She noted a baby box bill was first introduced in the state legislature back in 2016.

Since then, Mayfield noted, there have been no baby-abandonment deaths in Indiana.

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"Our state does have a safe haven law, and has had for more than 20 years," Mayfield said.

Mooresville Town Councilman Dustin Stanley, who helped spearhead the work to bring a Safe Haven box to Mooresville, said the box is a result of a community-led effort, which included 27 donors.

"Thank you to the first responders and on to the next one," Stanley added.

More information on Safe Haven Baby Boxes can be found online at shbb.org.

Contact Reporter-Times, Times-Mail and Spencer Evening World editor Lance Gideon at lgideon@reporter-times.com or 765-342-1543. Follow him on Twitter: @LanceOGideon.

This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Mooresville Safe Haven Baby Box has infant surrendered earlier in week