A Columbus North High School senior is working on a senior project to purchase and install Columbus’ first Safe Haven baby box at a local fire station.
Hunter Wart has set a goal of raising $10,000 for a baby box to be installed at Fire Station No. 3, 80 S. Gladstone Ave.
To raise funds for the project, Wart began collecting aluminum cans, car batteries and scrap metal that can be recycled.
Safe Haven baby boxes installed at fire stations allow an individual to surrender a newborn baby in a box that opens from the station’s exterior wall, which automatically locks and alerts firefighters that the newborn is there. Since fire stations are manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the boxes provide a safe way for adults to surrender infants.
Wart, 17, said he came up with the idea after hearing about a newborn baby being placed in a baby box at a Michigan City fire station.
After discussing the idea with his mother, Julie Kwasniewski, he decided to do his senior project on having one installed in Columbus.
Wart plans to meet with Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop Aug. 2 at Columbus City Hall to talk about his proposal. He is also planning to discuss the proposal with Fire Chief Mike Compton.
Compton said he supports Wart’s idea of a baby box in Columbus, adding that a fire station wall will have to be modified in order to have it installed.
“That’s all we’re looking for is giving folks out on the street a receptacle to do that,” Compton said. “I think this is a positive thing for our community to have a safe place to drop off a baby.”
Wart, who lives in Hope, has already secured more than half of the $10,000 needed and hopes to have the baby box installed by the end of his senior year in 2019.
In addition to collecting aluminum cans and scrap metal to raise money, a bank account will be established for people to make monetary donations once the city approves the project, Kwasniewski said.
There are currently three safe haven baby boxes in Indiana — one at the Coolspring Township Volunteer Fire Department in Michigan City, one at the Woodburn Fire Department in Woodburn and another that was recently installed at the Decatur Township Fire Department in Marion County.
All of the fire stations in Columbus are already designated as being Safe Place locations, which means a child in crisis may go there to get help whenever needed and newborns may be surrendered there without any prosecution.
Indiana’s Safe Haven law allows an individual to anonymously surrender an infant without risk of arrest or prosecution as long as the infant is surrendered to a hospital or an establishment with emergency services, such as a fire or police station. The Indiana Department of Child Services then would take the abandoned infants into custody.
Wart’s project is one that will help educate others and bring awareness about why the boxes are important, said Monica Kelsey, founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc., a nonprofit organization that was created in 2014.
Kelsey, who was abandoned as an infant, came up with the nonprofit after discovering a baby box at a church during a pro-life speaking tour in South Africa.
She also said she hopes the high school senior uses the project to help educate his fellow classmates about the baby boxes. A classmate might remember Wart’s project in the future if they ever face a crisis situation, she said.
Kelsey, who lives in Woodburn, said Indiana is on track to have 10 safe haven baby boxes by the end of the year.
Women who decide to surrender an infant at one of the boxes know that their child will be kept safe.
“The baby boxes are a no-judgment zone,” she said.
She commended Wart for taking this on as his senior project.
“He’s setting the bar very high and we need more (students) taking on such a big issue,” Kelsey said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Indiana’s current law about surrending infants” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The Indiana Safe Haven law allows babies younger than 30 days old to be given up at any hospital emergency room, fire or police station. It also puts the child into the custody of the Indiana Division of Family & Social Services Administration, which places the infant in a foster or pre-adoptive home.
Source: Baby Safe Haven website
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Upcoming speaker event” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
What: Presentation by Monica Kelsey, founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc.
When: Noon July 29
Where: St. Mary’s Parish Center, 212 Washington St., North Vernon
More information: Call Anthony Callahan at 812-532-9367 or e-mail [email protected]
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”How to help” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Members of the public can help fund the purchase and installation of a safe haven baby box by donating aluminum cans, car batteries and materials that can be scrapped by e-mailing [email protected].
Any items that are donated can be picked up. A bank account will also be established if the project is approved by the city that will allow the public to make monetary donations.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
