RIPLEY COUNTY, IN — Fundraising efforts are underway to bring two Safe Haven Baby Boxes to Ripley County.
The purchase and installation of the boxes in Milan and Versailles were approved recently by Ripley County Commissioners.
One of the baby boxes will be installed at the Milan EMS Building, while the other will go in at the Ripley County Courthouse Annex in Versailles.
“The boxes cost somewhere just over $11,000,” said State Rep. Randy Frye (R-Greensburg) on the Monday, June 6 edition of The Daily Pod on 103.9 WRBI. “We’re a good ways away from our goal and it’s going to take a little while yet, and the sooner we get these boxes in, the sooner we can start saving babies in Southeast Indiana.”
The Safe Haven Baby Box is a temperature-controlled bassinet with an alarm system that goes off when a child is placed inside, which allows first responders to immediately provide care to the baby.
The company was founded by Monica Kelsey after she learned that she was abandoned as an infant and after seeing a “baby box” in operation at a Cape Town, South Africa church.
The Madison Mission is an organization that aims to provide a place for a distressed parent to surrender an infant without fear of repercussions and has worked with Kelsey and Safe Haven to help communities raise funds to install baby boxes.
Madison Mission representatives Amy Arbuckle and Mary Beth Boone joined Frye in making the baby box presentation to Ripley County Commissioners.
Frye last year authored House Enrolled Act 1032, which expands the abilities of smaller communities to host a Safe Haven Baby Box.
Also known as the Safe Haven Law, HEA 1032 allows a parent to surrender an infant less than 30 days old to any hospital emergency room, firehouse, police station, or Safe Haven Baby Box in the State of Indiana without fear of prosecution.
Indiana now has over 80 baby boxes in service, including one at Margaret Mary Health’s main campus on Mitchell Avenue in Batesville and another at Greensburg Fire Station 1 on Ireland Street.
Donations for the Milan and Versailles boxes are now being accepted at the Ripley County Auditor’s Office, or through the Madison Mission on Facebook.
Checks can be made out to SAFE HAVEN BABY BOX with specifications on the memo/comment line for either the Milan or Versailles location or both, and can be mailed to Frye at 4704 South US 421; Greensburg, IN; 47240.
To listen to the interview with Frye, click here.
