SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — The director of the Indiana Department of Children Services has warned an organization that installed two baby boxes at firehouses where mothers can drop off unwanted newborns anonymously to remove them.
According to letters obtained by The Associated Press, DCS Director Mary Beth Bonaventura wrote the Safe Haven Baby Box organization saying she questions the safety of the boxes. She also said the agency would have to investigate the use of such a box as a case of child abandonment.
Bonaventura also recommended Safe Haven Baby Box not install any more boxes. Founder Monica Kelsey says the group doesn’t plan to stop.
Kelsey said she plans to install two more baby boxes in Indiana and another in Ohio. Her attorney, James Bopp, said the two will be installed in urban areas in central Indiana.
