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  • 2016-05-04 (xsd:date)
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  • Baby Drop Off Box (en)
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  • On 2 May 2016, a news article about the installation of several baby drop off boxes at Indiana firehouses began circulating on Facebook: The Associated Press reported that all 50 states (including Indiana) long ago since adopted some form of safe-haven laws, which allow parents to legally and anonymously surrender an infant at designated locations, such as a fire station. The installation of the boxes was a step toward making use of such laws easier on parties involved: In an era when preposterous claims constantly circulate on social media, many people who may be unfamiliar with safe-haven laws may be skeptical that they exist. However, as the article stated, under such laws the parent of a newborn can anonymously place the infant in the padded, climate controlled box. Closing the door then locks the apparatus and alerts firefighters to the presence of a surrendered infant. The safe-haven laws (also called Baby Moses laws) from which the baby drop-off boxes stemmed are not a new legal development. Texas was the first state to enact such a policy in 1999, after a string of fatal infant abandonments. At that time, law enforcement agents struggled to address a persistent and troubling spate of newborn deaths after such abandonments: Growing concern over the unknown numbers of mothers who abandoned their newborns led to formal research by the state of Nevada in 2000 [PDF]. That report cited increased media attention as a factor in the development of what would become nationwide safe-haven laws: By 2000, states that had adopted similar measures generally stipulated an age range (between three and thirty days after birth) and specific circumstances under which infants could be anonymously surrendered. By 2013, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services reported [PDF] that laws were adopted across all 50 states, although the eligibility involved parties varied by region: Early data on the success of such laws was promising. New York adopted its Abandoned Infant Protection Act in 2000, and public promotion of the program was credited with saving multiple babies' lives across several states later that year: A skeptical 2007 New York Times article said data on how effective the laws might actually be was weak, but one advocate said that hundreds of babies were legally surrendered nationwide after the laws became commonplace: By 2013, that number had climbed significantly: However, well more than a decade after the laws began going into effect, supporters said lack of knowledge about the programs made them less effective: Indiana's baby drop off boxes are real. The apparatuses are part of long-running efforts to curb baby abandonment deaths as part of what are known as safe-haven laws. And while the programs were adopted as early as 1999 in some states, the number of questions we've received about baby drop off boxes indicates how little known the programs remain years after the first law was passed. (en)
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