In 2014, the lifeless body of an abandoned newborn girl was found by a hiker in a wooded area on the outskirts of Eagle Creek Park.
No one knows exactly what happened or what was going through the mind of whoever left that baby there, but Wayne Township residents have banded together to ensure it never happens in their part of the city.
Township residents and local organizations raised more than $80,000 to fund the purchase and installation of “baby boxes” at four Wayne Township fire stations. The devices allow parents to safely and anonymously give up their babies for adoption.
The Wayne Township Fire Department now has baby boxes at all five of its fire stations, making it the first department with multiple stations in the country to do so. A baby box, created by the Woodburn, Indiana-based nonprofit Safe Haven Baby Boxes, was previously installed in 2021 at Station 82.
That baby box has already potentially saved a life. A boy was dropped off there in March 2023 and was soon after adopted by a westside family.
The boxes were installed through private donations, and the Wayne Township Fire Department will pay the yearly fees through its annual budget.
Each baby box costs about $20,000 to build and install and has a $500 annual operation fee. Donations were made by retired Indianapolis business consultant Bob Quigley, the American Legion Post 64, George Day Memorial Foundation, Peterman Family Foundation and by many Wayne Township residents.
Quigley donated money to install the baby box at Station 84, which is near Ben Davis High School. It was dedicated to his wife, Eleanore, who passed away in 2022. Both had worked to install a baby box there for young parents.
“All we wanted to do is offer an option to the young kids facing a very challenging decision,” Quigley said. “All these kids walk by here every day. This could be a learning experience for them, and, over time, they’ll see that there’s an option for them if something unexpected comes up.”
Safety and anonymity
The baby boxes are essentially a clear hospital bassinet placed inside a metal frame box installed in a wall. The box has a door that, when opened, drops an orange bag full of information for medical checkups, counseling and other resources.
When a baby is placed in the bassinet, a sensor is activated. After 60 seconds, a special alert goes off in the fire station to warn crews to check the box.
“It doesn’t just immediately set off the alarm when you open the door,” said Capt. Eric Banister, Wayne Township Fire Department public information officer. “It gives the parents a little bit of time to get away. They don’t have to, but that’s what the box is designed for. There’s no questions, there’s no passing judgment.”
The baby is then given a medical check by the firefighters, who are all trained as emergency medical technicians or paramedics. If the station’s firefighters are out on a call, a nearby ambulance will be dispatched to the station to check on the baby.
“We’ll treat the child as if it was a received medical patient, and then we’ll go from there to an ambulance that will take him right to a receiving hospital,” Banister said. “That child will stay in our custody until Child Protective Services takes the child.”
A life potentially saved
Wayne Township fire crews already have experience responding to a baby box alarm. A mother anonymously surrendered her baby in March 2023 at a baby box that had been in service at Station 82 since 2021.
Banister said the anonymity is intended to encourage families in need to seek out help.
“It’s a very difficult decision to make,” he said. “We fully understand that. We’re removing all the obstacles to let that surrender happen, and so we can take care of that child.”
According to Wayne Township Trustee Jeb Bardon, the baby is with a new family because of the local push to install the baby box in Wayne Township.
“The good news is we know who got the baby, and a year later, that family brought that baby to Station 82 and spent a Saturday afternoon with our firefighters, who had saved that baby’s life,” Bardon said. “The baby is as healthy as you could ever dream. That all happened because our community came together and put that box in, and that’s why we’re putting all these other boxes in today.”
‘Safe Haven’ Law
Parents have been allowed to give up their babies without getting charged with neglect since 2000, when the state passed its first “Safe Haven Law,” Senate Bill 330. Bardon, who represented District 25 in the Indiana House of Representatives at the time, supported the bill’s passage.
State lawmakers expanded the state’s “safe havens” in 2017 and 2018 to hospitals and fire stations as places where parents could give up their children safely. In 2021, state lawmakers passed a law that allows parents to give up their children simply by calling 911.
According to Safe Haven Baby Boxes assistant project coordinator Mariah Betts, 136 of its baby boxes have been installed in fire stations and other public places in Indiana. Betts said 50 babies nationwide have been surrendered at its baby boxes, and the organization has helped 150 parents surrender their children in person across multiple states.
How to foster or adopt a child
Indiana Department of Child Services statistics show that adoptions overall have dropped by about 19% since 2019. On average, children in the foster care system spend about 478 days in foster care and average about two placements per child.
The Department of Child Services recently increased the amount of financial support that people who adopt children in foster care or assume guardianship can receive.
“We often hear from families who are interested in adoption or guardianship, but they worry they might not be able to afford the additional costs that are necessary to meet a child’s needs,” Miller said in a June news release. “By making assistance more readily available, we are creating more opportunities for Hoosier children to find their forever home and better supporting the families who make that happen.”
To learn more about the state’s adoption process, check the Indiana Adoption Program site. For more information about becoming a foster parent, head to the Indiana Foster Care site.
How to find a baby box
Decatur Township, Lawrence and Beech Grove fire departments and Franciscian Health also each have a baby box location. A full list of Safe Haven locations is available at the organization’s website.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @heyEnriqueSaenz.
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