Oklahoma has first baby box surrender as Indiana site marks 90th nationwide 

Two parents recently surrendered their newborns safely through baby boxes in Oklahoma and Indiana.

The Oklahoma surrender was the state’s first through a Safe Haven Baby Box. For Indiana, it was its 90th since 2017.

In West Terre Haute, Indiana, a parent left a healthy baby girl at the Sugar Creek Township Fire Department this week, WTHI reported.

Lt. Dillon Massey opened the box and stayed with the child until authorities arrived. It was the first surrender at this location since the department installed the box in February 2024.

“I was by her side the entire time,” Massey said of the child.

“It’s just a blessing that this was an option for a mother,” Fire Chief Darrick Scott added.

Last week, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Saint Francis Hospital staff responded to an alarm after a parent left an infant in its box. The hospital installed the baby box last year, KRMG reported.

“We are grateful this parent knew there was a safe place to turn,” hospital President Doug Williams told the station.

Monica Kelsey, founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, called the Oklahoma surrender an act of love.

“She chose life. She chose safety. She chose hope,” Kelsey told KOCO of the mother.

Parents can use the Tulsa box whenever necessary. It’s on the hospital’s south side, near its emergency center.

The hospital says the box offers a way to surrender a child without speaking to anyone. Oklahoma’s law protects parents who surrender an unharmed baby within 30 days of birth.

Once the outside door closes with an infant inside, it locks. A silent alarm alerts medical staff. The staff checks the child before turning the baby over to child protective services.

Hospital cameras point away from the box. Nobody can hear the alarm outside, helping protect the person’s privacy.

Hospital staff encourages parents to leave the child’s medical history, if possible, to help caregivers meet the baby’s needs.

Heartlander News has covered other safe surrenders. In June 2025, the outlet reported on a baby box surrender in Mississippi and a separate safe haven surrender in Iowa.

Heartlander also covered Nebraska’s first surrender since expanding its safe haven law. That law gave parents more time to surrender a baby and added fire and police stations as drop-off locations.

Kelsey’s work grew out of her own start in life.

According to the nonprofit’s website, her birth mother survived a rape at 17 and got pregnant. She considered an abortion but changed her mind. After giving birth, she left Kelsey at an Ohio hospital.

Years later, Kelsey saw a baby box while visiting South Africa. She started Safe Haven Baby Boxes to help other children and their mothers.

The network now has nearly 500 boxes across 27 states, WFIU reported. The group installed its first box in Indiana in April 2016.

The boxes generally cost around $20,000 apiece, according to Stateline.

Texas enacted the country’s first safe haven law in 1999, which it called the Baby Moses law. Former President George W. Bush signed it into law. By 2008, all 50 states had safe haven laws.

Parents can call the group’s 24-hour crisis line at 1-866-99BABY1 (1-866-992-2291) for help understanding their state’s safe haven laws.